When Lovers Face The Future
by CloudGypsy
Summary: Sequel to "When Friends Become Lovers". Spencer and Aria have been a couple for a while and are about to graduate high school, but... what comes next for them? After a twist of fate puts a large obstacle in their way, will they work it out? Or will Sparia be lost forever? Read and find out! Note: It'll take a little time to get there!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

**Oh it is GOOD to be back.**

**SO! This story is a sequel to my story "When Friends Become Lovers"**

**I would recommend that you read that first should you not have done so previously, as there will probably be references to that story that may be important!**

**So, once again it is summer, and I am free of the shackles of education. (well, almost, I haven't started my final exams yet but in 3 weeks time they will be all over and I will be fully free!)**

**Basically, this kind of just popped into my head and I thought I may as well post it and get the ball rolling!**

**As I said, this is a sequel and unlike the first story which was kind of me just going with the flow, this story has more direction, focus and a main story line.**

**I planned it out so that I could focus myself but I am always open to suggestions, and will most likely need some at times to keep me on track.**

**This first chapter is kind of just a filler to start off with and bring everyone back into the story and relationship.**

**And if I say so myself, I started it off with a bang... literally... ;)**

**Sorry, I friggin love puns :P**

**Anyway, i'm back to my old ways of long Author's Note's but alas, i'm too old to change now XD**

**Read, Enjoy, Review!**

"Aria? What are you doing?" I asked, looking quizzically at my friend but smiling my knowing smile.

"I'm dancing silly, dance with me?" Aria pouted at me, drunkenly, and I couldn't say no to that face, or those eyes.

"Okay, but just for a minute."

…

The sound of my phone ringing woke me from my dream slowly, and all my eyes could see was Aria dancing and spinning around her bedroom that night, almost a year ago.

I picked up my phone. It was Hanna. After sliding the green circle to the right it took only a second for Hanna to start yelling at me.

"Hanna! I know I promised but I just woke up… No… Yeah… YES! I'll be there in half an hour, jeez."

I hung up and threw my phone on my bed, before grabbing a towel and heading for the bathroom.

-XXXX-

I nearly fell through the back door of my house after having no choice but to open it with my foot, as my hands were occupied with bags and bags of clothes.

Hanna had taken me shopping for the day as I apparently "was a disaster" and "needed an entire new wardrobe." I hadn't bought anything new after Christmas because I didn't have the time, and I guess she was right because it was coming to the end of January and frankly I don't think thermal layers were going to do anything to help me out in Spring.

Hanna had also, as she liked to put it, 'played a key role' in Aria and I's relationship. Our 1st anniversary was coming up and she kept telling me that I needed to get some new stuff to wear so that Aria would, 'swoon'. To be honest, I thought I was doing a pretty good job of making her swoon already, but that was Hanna for you.

I made my way upstairs, somehow, with the bags in tow before using my foot once more to open my bedroom door. I pushed the door open with my foot and moved through it before getting to my closet and throwing the bags on the floor, to be dealt with at a much later time. More than likely I would never 'deal' with them, rather I'd just take what I needed until I had eventually worn all my new purchases and the bags were empty and I could throw them away.

"Hey stranger" said a soft voice from behind me.

"Jesus!" I said jumping out of my skin, as I held tightly to the door frame of my closet, trying to steady myself and not fall face first into the bags I had just dropped on the floor.

"Um, no, sorry to disappoint you, it's Aria." She said with a giggle as I heard her move from her usual spot on my bed to behind me, before she wrapped her arms around my waist.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny, you scared the life out of me." I turned around and placed my hands on her waist as she moved hers to their usual spot around my neck.

"I'm sorry baby, what can I do to make you feel better?" she said, pouting slightly with a mischievous glint in her eye. That god damn glint won't leave me alone.

"Well… I can think of one thing." I whispered before leaning down slightly to capture her lips in a tentative kiss. She quickly slipped her tongue in my mouth as she ran her hands through my hair and I moaned into the kiss.

I moved my hands upwards under the light black vest top she was wearing, and let my fingers wander over her smooth skin, before moving them to the small of her back and further pulling her into me, earning a loud moan from her and sending a surge of liquid heat south of MY border.

Her need for me was growing stronger every second as I felt her tugging at me and pulling me toward the bed. As her knees hit the side of my mattress she forcefully pulled me on top of her and instantly wrapped her legs around my waist as she pushed her hips upward, trying to create as much friction between us as possible and relieve some of the obvious sexual frustration she was feeling. I pulled away slightly to take a breath.

"Mmmm, someone's excited." I whispered against her ear as I moved my lips to her jaw and down her neck slowly. Another moan escaped her lips, this one sounding more desperate, a whimper pleading for my touch.

"Spence, touch me… please… I need you."

"Patience is a virtue baby." I whispered again, moving my lips to her chest, pressing them in the cleft between her breasts as she arched into my lips.

"But you took my virtue a long time ago Spence" she blurted out between moans.

"… Touché" and with that, I roughly tugged her short shorts down her legs and threw them to the floor.

"Now who's excited?" she said playfully.

"I liked you better when all you could do was moan." I laughed. She sat up and grabbed my neck and quickly pulled me back down onto her and into a heated kiss.

She kissed and bit my lips passionately as she moved her hands to my back and pulled me into her more. Slowly I managed to drag my lips from hers and back to her neck and chest, running my tongue teasingly downward, over her breasts and stomach, dragging it across her waist just above the waistband of her boy shorts.

Her back arched at this and she let out another loud moan. She moved her hand to my hair again and gently tugged, urging me to continue.

I tentatively ran my hands up her thighs, lightly dragging my nails along the inside and torturing her even more. I eventually got to her shorts once more and slowly dragged them down her legs and threw them over my shoulder. Her legs instantly separated, and her scent intoxicating and inviting reminded me of my own arousal that was starting to fog my thoughts.

I moved my lips to her thigh, kissing and licking upwards to where she needed me most and after placing one final, light kiss on top of her wetness, I flattened my tongue and began my attack on her as she moaned sweetly, finally getting the contact she needed.

She sighed audibly in delight as her breathing got heavier, and with every swipe of my tongue over her delicious wetness she drew closer to the edge. Her hands became fists as she grabbed hold of my bed sheets, gripping them tightly as she thrust her hips upward to meet my tongue. I quickened my pace as I now focused on her sweet spot, running my tongue up and down, side to side as her clit throbbed against it as my name echoed off the walls when it passed her lips.

"Oh god, Spence!" with one final swipe over her clit, she came undone.

I slowly moved from my position to collapse beside her. After a few well deserved intakes of breath, I looked across at her, her chest still working quickly, a lazy smile tugging at her lips and her eyes shut.

"Please tell me you're not asleep already?" I said, laughing.

"No…" she whispered sleepily.

"It's okay sweetie, come on I'll help you into bed." I said as I moved so she could wrap her arms around my neck, and I lifted her up before pulling back the bed covers and gently placing her in her usual spot in my bed. I pulled them back over her and kissed her forehead. I moved to go downstairs but felt a hand tugging at mine.

"Spence, don't go…" she said.

"I'll be back, I just want to get a drink okay?"

"Okay… hurry" she said sweetly.

I quickly made my way downstairs, getting two glasses of water to bring back up with me. I climbed the stairs once more and moved to my room to set the two glasses down on my bedside locker, looking at Aria as she slept soundly.

I moved to get changed and threw my clothes in the wash basket, before changing into a vest top and shorts. I moved over to my bed and got in my side, quickly shifting my position so that I was spooning Aria, wrapping my arms around her waist I pulled her to me tightly. I felt her curl slightly and snuggle into me.

"I love you so much Aria." I whispered.

I heard her sigh contentedly and knew what her response was. Her love for me just radiated through her, there were no need for words, or explanations.

Love cannot be put into words, because when it's real, it doesn't need to be.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, so here's the second chapter.**

**Thought I would see some familiar faces with this story from the first one but I guess not! :(**

**Sorry for the wait, but I am in the middle of exams and won't be finished for another 2 weeks so it won't be until then that I can start a new chapter for this!**

**This chapter isn't very good but the first 4 or 5 of this story are just kind of gonna be fillers. Lemme know what you think, feedback is very much appreciated, believe me I love it, so please if you have a minute just leave me a comment anything is welcome, even the simplest of things.**

**Like I said, I have a plan for this story and it's gonna get there eventually but... the foundation has to be laid first before you can build the house.**

**Know what i'm saying?**

**No?**

**Me either.**

**It's been a long day.**

**Read, Enjoy, Review. Please?**

The next day, I woke up with Aria nowhere to be found. But before getting the chance to panic, I was hit with an intoxicating smell.

Pancakes. My favourite.

I quickly jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to find Aria, Hanna and Emily sitting at my kitchen island laughing while Aria was frying those delicious fluffy angels.

"Morning Spence!" Hanna yelled as she smiled widely.

"Morning guys." I said, not looking at either of them as I made my way across the room, only having eyes for one thing right now.

"Look at that, she doesn't acknowledge us with a hug, or even a glance but she immediately goes to see Aria." Hanna whined.

"I don't think it's me she's after Han." I heard Aria say with a laugh, and as I reached my destination, I wrapped my arms around Aria's waist, rested my head on her shoulder and couldn't take my eyes off of the slowly cooking pancakes.

"She has 2 moods, hungry and horny." Aria said sarcastically.

"Hey!" I said, coming out of my daze and moving from behind Aria to get some plates.

"We're just kidding Spence." Hanna said with an amused look on her face.

"Yeah, I still love you baby. I make you food and sleep with you, it's an easy relationship to be in." Aria said, moving toward me and pulling me into a heated kiss.

"Woah, this is a kitchen ladies, please keep the tongue to a minimum…" Hanna said as Aria pulled away from me, rolling her eyes as she flicked through a magazine.

"Sorry Han." She said as she went back to flipping pancakes.

-XXXX-

After breakfast, Aria went upstairs to get dressed, as Hanna and Emily waited downstairs so we could all go out and spend the day together.

"Hey Spence?" she asked as she sat down to tie her shoe laces.

"Yeah?"

"Not to seem like a needy girlfriend or anything but… you know about the special occasion that's coming up right?" she asked tentatively.

"You mean our first anniversary?" I said, moving to sit down beside her.

"Yeah... that." She bit her lip and finished tying her lace, moving back up and resting her head on my shoulder.

"Of course, did you think I would forget?" I asked, wrapping an arm around her.

"No… I just… I mean you've been so busy with school and college applications and extra curricula's and I mean, I'm proud of you and I love you for your dedication but I thought that you might have… pushed the thought to one side for the time being…" she trailed.

"Aria, I know I've been busy with everything lately, and I know I haven't been able to spend that much time with you recently, but there is no possible way I could forget our anniversary. Even though all that stuff keeping me busy exists in my world, you ARE my world, so none of it could be possible without you. You are the ONLY important thing to me, this stuff is just that, 'stuff', but you are the constant that exists alongside it all, and that will never change. And I already have everything planned for our anniversary, I may be a busy girlfriend but I'm a girlfriend with a good memory and great organisational skills."

She laughed and could feel the vibrations against my arm as she snuggled further into my side.

"I love you so much." She whispered.

"I love you too sweetheart… always." I whispered back, kissing the top of her head.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and Hanna burst into the room.

"Are you guys having sex or something? LET'S GO!"

"Okay Hanna, hang onto your hair alright, we're coming we were just talking."

"Well hurry, we don't have all day!" Hanna whined impatiently.

"Uh, it's 11am, we kind of DO have all day." I said raising my eyebrows at her as I passed by her side on my way out of my bedroom door. She looked confused for a minute before frowning.

"Oh shut up you big know-it-all!" she said, storming down the stairs.

"Spence, why do you confuse her like that?" Aria asked, smiling slightly.

"Why does she get on my nerves on purpose?" I asked, giving her a smile back.

"…Fair point… okay, let's go before she has another burst of anger." She said laughing as we made our way out the door.

-XXXX-

"Okay so what's the plan exactly?"

"I was thinking we could go to the park and then maybe have a sleepover tonight?" Hanna asked.

"Sure sounds great, it's a really nice day out. I put on my sunglasses as we left my house, quickly reaching over and taking Aria's hand in mine. She smiled up at me.

We walked casually to the park, chatting idly about whatever the latest gossip Hanna had been able to muster out of people since yesterday. When we got there, we made our way to our favourite spot and sat down on the grass, in a circle. Not a perfect one though, since Aria was cuddled tightly against my side.

"Let's rent some movies on the way back. Oh, and no keeping is up all night Hanna, we have to be up early tomorrow."

"Alright alright party pooper, I won't keep you from your precious beauty sleep. You need all the help you can get…" she said sarcastically. But before I could chime in, Aria came to my rescue.

"I'll have you know Spencer Hastings is the most beautiful woman on earth, and her concern and care for everyone else but herself make her personality even more beautiful than her absolutely perfect body and features." She blurted out, and in one breath. She realised what she had just said, and blushed slightly, quickly nuzzling her face into my neck.

Hanna's eyebrows raised and just as she was about to reply, she decided against it, making Obama's "Not Bad" face and deciding to lay down instead and close her eyes. I turned my head to the side and whispered in her ear.

"Thanks" I said with a smile, she just clung tightly to me in response, before pulling me to lay down with her.

-XXXX-

After renting the movie and buying junk food, we made our way back to my house.

After making our way inside, I put the food on the coffee table, put the dvd in, and sat down in my usual spot beside Aria, Indian style. She moved to lay down, putting her feet up on the couch and head on a cushion I had just placed in my lap for her.

As the movie played, I ran my fingers lightly through Aria's hair, gently running my nails along her scalp, massaging as I went, hearing her sigh contently I continued my gentle touches watching every move closely, seeing her sides move up and down as her breath became heavy. Being in our own world brought an immense surprise from the real world as I was suddenly being whacked in the face by a cushion without even realising Hanna was standing right beside me, cushion in hand.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked relatively calmly, considering I'd just been hit in the face by, when it comes down to it, a bag full of fluffy crap.

"What the hell are YOU doing!" she whisper-yelled.

"What are you talking about Hanna?" I asked, yet again calmly. It seemed I was relaxed from the massage I gave Aria as well, somehow.

"You two have been over here moaning for the past 5 minutes and Emily and I have been sitting there completely embarrassed."

"You? Embarrassed?" I asked, not even regarding the first part of her comment.

"Well, no, I wasn't , I thought it was quite funny actually that you guys weren't even trying to do it quietly over here knowing we were in the room."

"We weren't doing anything, Aria is asleep. We've been in our own little bubble for the whole night."

"Maybe that's why you didn't notice it then." Hanna said.

"How could I not notice if either, or both of us were moaning? I have control over my own moans you know!" I said, no longer calm.

"Well, I don't know! But Emily heard it as well, and there's no reason for me to make that up." Hanna said, eyebrows raised and shrugging.

"Okay, so I'm spontaneously and subconsciously moaning now… well that's just fantastic." I said sarcastically.

"Don't feel so bad dude, you gotta nice moaning voice." Hanna blurted, her eyes fixated on the ceiling as if she was deep in thought.

"What did you just say?" I asked bemused.

"What? Oh, ugh... OH! Nothing!" She said, looking like a deer caught in headlights, she'd stepped in it now.

"Hanna you should now that I'm never letting you live that down!" I said, laughing hysterically along with Emily now.

"Letting her live what down?" Aria asked sleepily, rubbing her eye gently with the back of her hand as she stretched outward.

"Hanna thinks my moaning is sexy." I said seductively and sarcastically, giving Hanna a wink to match.

"Did I miss something? Why does she think your moaning is sexy exactly? And HOW?" Aria said with a strong tone, I felt like I was in trouble so I figured I should resolve the confusion quickly.

"Oh, em, apparently we were moaning over here when you were sleeping and I was massaging your head, and Hanna said that she thinks I have a nice moaning voice."

"Oh, okay, I was wondering. You were moaning, and your moaning voice is really sexy." She said simply.

"HA! I TOLD YOU!" Hanna said, satisfied she was right.

"What? But how? And you were asleep, how do you know I was?" I asked, honestly in shock, this can't be real can it? Subconscious moaning? Oh god dammit.

"I wasn't, I just had my eyes closed. You moan a lot in your sleep, and you do it sometimes when we're lying down but it's never been that noticeable." Aria said.

"Why didn't you tell me I do it?" I asked, confused.

"Because you were just moaning, firstly, it was always when we were cuddling so I assumed it was just a happy moan and secondly, I assumed you knew what sounds were coming out of your own body!" she said laughing.

"Fair enough…" I said, still confused as to why my body has been betraying me.

"Something imperfect about Spencer? NEVER!" Hanna said laughing and I couldn't stop the smile spreading across my face. I stood up and waved to an imaginary group of people before speaking, "Hi, I'm Spencer and I'm a Moan-aholic"

"HI SPENCER!" they all said in unison.

"Yeah, yeah… whatever." I said, slumping back down next to Aria, and she pulled me into a cuddle, before whispering in my ear.

"Awh, it's okay baby… I love your moaning, it gets me so hot and wet." She bit my earlobe, and then quickly swiped her tongue over it.

Maybe this little idiosyncrasy of mine isn't so bad after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**

**Okay folks, I'm back.  
**

**Exams are over and summer has just begun! Woop woop.  
**

**I can't wait to get back into writing, and I hope that everyone will enjoy this story.**

**Someone named "Fat Amy" reviewed the last chapter and asked for some Hannily, and since I love Pitch Perfect and am always open to suggestions, this chapter will feature some Hannily. Not as a couple, since I don't plan on making them into one, but some nice friendship stuff.**

**I was gonna make this chapter longer but when I was writing it and came to the place this chapter ends at, I felt it was a good place to stop, so I did.**

**Hopefully i'll get the next chapter written and posted in the next few days, fingers crossed. Review and motivate me to do it ;P  
**

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, lemme know what you think!**

**Read, Enjoy, Review!**

***2 weeks later***

It was Friday, and Aria and I's first anniversary was this weekend, so I had everything planned. With some help from Hanna and Emily of course, without those 2 I don't think Aria and I would even be together.

I got dressed for school quickly and threw my bag over my shoulder, I was late because my alarm didn't wake me and of course it was just typical that there was no one other than me in my house this whole week who could have woken me up. So I grabbed an apple and ran out the door, jumping into my car to try and make it to school.

-XXXX-

I spotted my friends waiting at my locker and saw Aria's concerned face, so I decided to have some fun.

"Hey Em, do you know where Spencer is?" Aria asked.

"No, I haven't seen or heard from her all morning." Emily said smiling.

"Em, why are you smiling?" Aria asked, and I whispered a "boo" in her ear quietly. She jumped slightly, "oh that's why" she said sarcastically.

"Sorry baby, I just love surprising you." I said winking.

"I hope that means what I think it means." She said with a grin.

"Perhaps." I said, looking away cheekily.

"Come on, I don't wanna be late. See you guys later!" She said, taking my hand as we walked to class.

"Bye guys" Emily said as we walked away.

-XXXX-

"Hey guys." Hanna said as she walked up to our table at lunch.

"Hey Han, you okay?" Emily asked with a worried tone in her voice.

"Yeah I guess." She said absentmindedly.

"No you're not, what's up Han?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm gonna get some lunch I'll be back in a minute." She said, getting up and walking towards todays spread.

"There must be something seriously wrong if she's upset, nothing ever gets to her like that." I said frowning slightly.

"Hey, I'm gonna go talk to her." Emily said as she got up and followed her.

-XXXX-

**Emily**

"Hanna, what's wrong?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder.

"Caleb and I broke up." She said, her voice cracking.

"Come on, let's go outside."

"Okay."

I led her outside, and we sat down on a bench as I took her hands in mine.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I just don't love him the way I used to. I felt like I was lying to him, if I think about it I've felt like this for a while now, and I feel like I was using him. I'm not sad, or angry, or anything like that and neither is he, it was a mutual break up and he understood, I just feel… numb I guess."

"Hanna, I'm so sorry that happened, but if you don't feel that way anymore, maybe it's a good thing you broke up? It's not your fault if you don't feel that way about him anymore and you can't feel bad about it, you loved him so much for so long, and maybe you just thought it was something that would go away. You were making sure that it wasn't what you wanted anymore, and that's the right thing to do, to be absolutely sure before you make any rash decisions. Now you can get back to yourself, and not feel like you're stringing him along, you've been kind of out of it recently, and I think this could be a good thing, maybe to work on yourself for a while."

"Yeah, I think you're right Em. I just loved him and I didn't want to hurt him you know?"

"I know Han, you did the right thing."

"Thanks Em, for always being there for me, you're the best friend a girl could ask for. I love you so much." She said, tears forming in her eyes. I moved closer and pulled her into a tight embrace, stroking her hair gently with my hand to comfort her.

"I love you too Han, I'm always here for you if you need me okay?" I said.

"I know you are" she smiled at me as she pulled back.

"Now come on, Spencer is worried sick about you." I said standing up and holding my hand out for her to take.

"Spencer Hastings? Showing emotion? NEVER." She said sarcastically.

"Now there's the Hanna we know and love."

"Shut up." She said laughing, and we made our way back inside to sit down.

-XXXX-

**Spencer**

"Hey, everything alright?" I asked as the girls sat back down.

"Yeah, it's fine. Um, I guess I should tell you guys that Caleb and I broke up."

"No way, what happened?" Aria asked.

"It just wasn't working anymore. It's okay though, we're still friends, and we still love each other we're just not IN love anymore." She said.

"I'm so sorry to hear that Han, it'll hurt for a while but maybe it's for the best." I said, taking her hand in mine and giving her a small smile.

"I think so too, thanks you guys." She said smiling.

"Hey, why don't you guys come over tonight and we can order pizza and watch some mind numbingly awful movies?" I offered.

"Aren't you and Aria meant to be spending tonight and tomorrow together for your anniversary?" Hanna asked.

"Tomorrow is all set, and I was just spending the night at Spencer's tonight, nothing special. I think this could be good for you Han, just spending time with friends you know?" Aria said.

"Exactly, come on what do you say?" I asked.

"Okay, that sounds good, thanks guys." She said smiling.

"Great, I'll get everything ready when I get home and you guys can come over after." I said.

"Sounds like a plan Spence." Emily said.

-XXXX-

Later that evening after I had everything ready, I texted both Hanna and Emily to come over. Aria had come home with me and I was now sitting on the couch waiting for the girls to arrive while she was upstairs unpacking her bag for the weekend.

"Hey." She said as soon as she sat down next to me.

"Hey you." I said smiling at her, before placing a light kiss on her lips.

"I'm gonna miss this you know." She said.

"Miss what?" I asked looking at her.

"This. Just random nights in with you and Hanna and Emily, not having to worry about anything else, knowing that you guys are always there for me and you're just a phone call away."

"That's not going to change anything. We're always gonna be here for you, especially me, you're not getting away that easily." I said.

"Yeah, but it won't be the same. You're gonna be in Princeton and I'll be in Yale and you're not just a drive away anymore."

"Aria, listen to me. I love you, and I know we won't be geographically close once college starts but none of that matters, all that matters is that I love you, more than anything else in this world, or any other world for that matter. I'm gonna visit you ALL the time, and you're gonna visit me right?"

"Yeah…" she said.

"So that's that. I'm gonna see you all the time, and we're gonna Skype every week and talk on the phone every day. I know it's gonna be hard not seeing you every day, but it's a new challenge and a new part of our lives. It's gonna take some adjusting but we'll get used to it and after that, everything else will just fall into place. You need to know that you're the most important part of my life and nothing is gonna get in the way of that, I promise."

"I love you." She said before roughly pressing her lips against mine.

"I love you too, shorty." I whispered.

-XXXX-

Later that night, after Hanna and Emily had left Aria and I made our way upstairs.

After getting changed and getting under the covers, Aria moved over to me and cuddled into my side. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

I heard her breathing become heavier and I knew she must have fallen asleep.

"I'm gonna miss this too Ar." I whispered to myself as I drifted off.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**

**Okay, so here is the latest update, sorry it took so long but I've been busy, you know... living my life and all that.**

**It's a lot longer this time so hopefully that makes up for it a bit, though I kind of doubt that.**

**So just to let you all (or few) know that this story won't be being updated again for at least another 3 weeks, since I am setting sail (well, flight) to Spain in a couple days and so the only thing I will be doing during that time is sleeping, tanning and eating. Probably some drinking in there too.**

**Just a heads up, in case you might wonder where i've gone to, although i'm guessing that would be highly unlikely.**

**On a slightly unrelated note, PLL Season 4 has started in the US. I haven't even seen season 3 yet (stupid MTV). So should my writing be off in terms of situations/relationships you now know why. But this story is slightly AU anyway. I mean obviously, Sparia aren't really together after all (which by the way makes me very sad)  
**

**Gonna stop rambling now, back in 3 weeks.**

**Read, Enjoy, Review.**

I woke up early the next morning with Aria lying beside me curled up in a ball like shape. I smiled at her as I watched her closely and saw her scrunch her nose slightly.

I got up slowly and quietly, trying not to wake her and pulled out a stack of post-it notes from underneath my bed, to get my preparations for the day started.

-XXXX-

**Aria**

I woke up and stretched my limbs, and as I reached my arm outward, I couldn't feel Spencer. I opened my eyes immediately and sat up, looking around the room for her, but she was nowhere in sight.

From the corner of my eye I noticed a large pink post-it on Spencer's bedside locker. I moved over to pick it up and noticed my name written at the top of it, it read:

_No.1_

_Dear Aria, today is our 1 year anniversary, which basically means that I get to spend the entire day with you and spend that entire day spoiling you. Get dressed and go downstairs. You'll understand why soon enough, your next instruction will be there. _

_All my love, Spencer._

I noticed there was no one at home so I quickly showered and then pulled the outfit I had brought with me from the drawer I had placed it in last night, and quickly got dressed, applying a small bit of make-up before I made my way downstairs. I looked toward the kitchen and saw a spread of food on the kitchen island. As I got closer, I noticed it was all my favourite breakfast food and drink. I saw another note stuck to the front of the fridge and pulled it off.

_No.2_

_Congratulations! You've made it to Round 2! So I was up early and made all your favourites, eat as much as you want. If my plan worked, Emily should have made a fresh pot of coffee-simply because she's more responsible than Hanna and I asked her to come over and put one on for you when you woke up, I knew she'd have enough time without you noticing because I knew you'd shower-so hopefully there should be one there._

_Eat up, drink up, and make your way to AppleRose when you're finished._

_Spencer._

_P.S: You should walk since it's such a nice day out…_

I read the note and laughed, the fresh pot had indeed been made and Emily was nowhere to be found. I ate as much as I possibly could, finished my coffee and grabbed my bag, quickly running out of Spencer's and making my way to the Grille, she was right, it was a nice day out.

As I walked from Spencer's I noticed people looking at me and smiling. I turned around the corner and was completely shocked at what I saw. I was met with a guard of honour type situation occurring along the walkway. Each person looked at me, wished me a happy anniversary and each handed me a flower as I walked past them. By the time I got to the end of the path, I had two arms full of flowers.

I turned around the final corner and was thankful that there were no more flowers, as much as I loved them I couldn't carry anymore. I had AppleRose in sight and as soon as I got to the entrance, I was bombarded with a group of people holding vases out for me. I put the flowers into each of them and then the group disappeared, with my flowers.

"Hey! Wait, come back!" I yelled after them but it was no use.

"It's okay Ar, don't worry the flowers will be at your place when you get home." Hanna said, appearing from nowhere.

"Hanna! What the hell is going on?" I asked, confused.

"That's on a need to know basis I'm afraid, I'm just here to give you this." She smiled and handed me yet another note. I turned it over and began reading.

_No.3_

_Sorry for bombarding you, do you think I overdid it? Oh well, too late now._

_Okay, so you have reached your destination (hopefully without incurring any injuries as a result of those flowers). You're here because every time I see you standing at the door, waiting for me to arrive, in your own bubble with your headphones in, you take my breath away, and I fall in love with you all over again. _

_Your next location is the school, but before you get on your way, someone should hand you a red balloon, don't leave without it, this is really important._

_Spencer._

As soon as I lifted my head, I was handed a very very large red balloon by a random girl, just as I had been informed, and Hanna had disappeared somewhere, which was probably all part of the plan. I wrapped the balloon around my wrist and made my way towards the school.

As I walked there, I was getting strange looks from people on the street, most likely because of the large balloon flowing me everywhere I went. "Damn it Spencer." I whispered to myself.

I arrived at my location and noticed a large white 'X' on the ground, assuming this was Spencer's handy work I stood directly on it and waited. A minute later, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Emily smiling back at me.

"Well hi there." I said laughing.

"Sup?" she said.

"So… Whatcha doing here?" I asked.

"Well, I was meant to tell you to stand on this 'X' but I see you're too cool for school since you figured it out already… no pun intended." She laughed.

"I take it you're not gonna tell me what's going on?" I said simply.

"Wish I could, I nearly have so many times recently but alas I will not. Now be quiet, it's about to come." She said, looking at the sky.

"What are you talking about?" I asked confused.

"Just look at the sky will you?" she laughed.

"Alright, alright." I said, turning my attention upward.

I felt like this was pointless and I had been standing there forever, just as I was about to voice my opinion to Emily, I heard a noise. I furrowed my brow and looked at Emily who was grinning widely, and without a word, she put her hand on my chin to move my head back to face the sky.

I still didn't know what was going on when a group was gathering in front of the school that was until I saw a large red plane flying in front of my eyes. It had a banner floating behind it and of course, it contained the next note.

_No.4_

_If the flowers didn't overdo it, I'm pretty sure this will. Gotta make this short because, well, for obvious reasons. This is the exact spot you professed your love for me, with a chalk drawing, I thought it was about time I did the same._

_I Love you, Aria Montgomery._

_Make your way to the park. I'll be waiting._

_Spencer._

"Alright, let's go" Emily said with a smile as the plane flew away.

"Good, I need to find out what the hell is going on around here." I said as we were about to leave the park.

Just as I was about to start walking, Emily put her hand on my arm to stop me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking at her confused.

"Nothing, just following instructions." She said, and then she put a blindfold around my head.

"Dude! What are you doing?!" I yelled.

"Aria, you're not being kidnapped, calm down, it's just a surprise that's all." She took my hand and led me to our final destination. She pulled the blindfold off of me, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was as if I had just fallen asleep and stepped into a childhood fantasy dream. There were balloons everywhere, tables and chairs set up around the park and a large BBQ occurring a little bit further past the setup of tables and chairs.

There was a large piece of material leading from the specific entrance to the park that we were at, past the tables, chairs, balloons and the BBQ, leading toward the lake in the middle of the park.

Intrigued, I started making my way there, but noticed that Emily wasn't beside me. I turned around to see her sitting down and smiling at me.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked.

"Nah, I think you might wanna go by yourself." She said smirking, clearly she knew something I didn't.

"Oh, okay, I'll see you later then." I quickly turned back around and began following the material covering the grass.

Soon I found myself looking at the lake, coming to the end of the material on the ground. I was in a secluded opening of the park that I couldn't seem to remember ever being in before. I walked over to the edge of the lake, and sat down on a blanket that had been laid down there.

I heard a buzzing noise coming from behind me and turned around to see a remote control helicopter heading my way. It landed beside me and I noticed yet another note attached to it. Wondering what twist was going to occur this time, I opened the note tentatively.

_No.5_

_So here we are._

_1 year to the day since I first told you I loved you, and 1 year since I heard you repeat those words to me. I can't even believe how fast it's gone by, but it's been the best year of my life. I want to spend the next year, and the year after that and the one after that and so on, telling you how much I love you, and doing insanely crazy things like this on all of those anniversaries._

_I love you. And I plan on loving you for the rest of my life._

_Turn around._

I finished the note, and placed it on the ground. I stood up and taking a deep breath, I slowly turned around.

I let my eyes adjust slightly to the light streaming through the trees, and then I saw her. She stood in front of me, smiling, wearing black hi-top converse, dark coloured denim shorts, a tight white wife beater and a black fedora with a grey strip, holding a single white rose. And I could honestly say, without a doubt in my mind that I had never seen her look more beautiful than at this very moment.

I smiled at her and she beamed at me, without saying a word, I walked over to her, put one hand on her face and the other around her neck and pulled her in for a tight, passionate and loving kiss.

-XXXX-

**Spencer**

As our lips collided I dropped the rose I was holding and wrapped my arms around her waist. I lifted Aria up in my arms and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I quickly brought us over to the blanket she has previously been sitting on and lay her down. She placed her hands on the back of my neck, pulling me more into her as I lay between her legs, the gap between our bodies became dismal as I felt her leg grip tighten around my waist and she pushed up into me.

Aria being oblivious to everything that I had planned for today meant that I was the one who, unfortunately, had to stop our shenanigans before they went any further.

"Aria, wait…" I said breathily.

"What is it? What's wrong?" she asked, still kissing me after I had pulled back slightly.

"We can't, I have an entire thing planned, our parents are here and everything, we really can't do this here." I said, taking her hands in mine as I sat back.

"Oh shit, I didn't know…" she said blushing.

"You weren't meant to." I said smiling.

"So…" she said.

"Hi…" I said, moving to sit closer to her.

"Hi." She kissed me lightly on the lips and pulled me into a tight hug.

"I love you, you know." She said.

"I know, and I think after today it's pretty obvious I love you too." I said holding onto her a little tighter.

"I can't believe you did all of this, for me, I just… I was not expecting this at all."

"I know it's probably a little over the top, but I love you and it's our first anniversary. The first of many and you only really get one first anniversary with the person you love more than anything else so I wanted to make it special." I said honestly.

"I know, I just feel a little like, the present I got you is not gonna make the cut." She said laughing.

"You could get me an ice cube and it wouldn't matter. As long as you love me, and you're happy, that's all I could ever ask for. That's the best gift you could give me."

"I am the happiest I have ever been in my life. And I love you so much." She leaned in and placed another, long kiss on my lips before she stood up and held her hand out for me.

"Come on, we better get this thing started. Whatever this thing is, I mean." She laughed.

"Okay, let's go." I took her hand and stood up, and we made our way to what I had in store for her.

-XXXX-

We walked hand in hand to the party I had organised for Aria and I's anniversary. I had organised everyone important to the both of us to come down and have a get together, just the first surprise of the day I had organised.

We got back to the party and sat down at a table beside Emily and Hanna who were talking.

"Hey you two" Hanna said grinning.

"Hey Han."

"So, Aria, on a scale of 1 to 10 how surprised are you?" She asked excitedly.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd probably say like 147."

"Right! Spencer totally surprised you."

"How did you even have time for all this?" she asked me.

"I just made it, plus I had some very helpful people to give me a hand with everything." I beamed at both Hanna and Emily.

"You guys are the best, I just can't believe all of this." Aria smiled and cuddled into my side.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see both of our sets of parents standing behind us.

"Hi girls, we just wanted to come over and congratulate you both for getting through the past year together, and wish you a very happy anniversary." Byron said.

"Thanks dad!" Aria said as she stood up and hugged both her parents.

"Thank you Mr. Montgomery." I said, standing behind her.

"Shall we get this party started then?" my dad asked, smiling widely.

"What are you dad, a Black-Eyed Pea or something?" I asked laughing, as we all sat down at our table.

-XXXX-

Later that evening, as Aria and I had momentarily gone our separate ways to get changed for my second surprise of the day, I stood looking at myself in the mirror, checking my appearance before I would make my way to Aria's house to pick her up.

I heard a knock at the door and turned to see my mom standing in my doorway.

"Hi sweetheart, are you looking forward to your date tonight?"

"I really am, I can't remember the last time Aria and I have been able to get some proper time just the two of us."

"Well alone time is an important part of any relationship, so I'm glad you were able to organise this for you two." She smiled at me.

"Thanks mom, and thanks so much for all your help for everything today, you don't know how much I appreciate it."

She walked toward me and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Spencer, your father and I have never seen you as happy in your whole life, as you have been for this entire year. Aria makes you wonderfully happy, and that's all that matters to us. We want you to be happy, and if we can contribute to that, in even the slightest bit, we always will. Now go, or you'll be late. You don't want to keep your wonderful girlfriend waiting now do you?" she smiled again.

"Thanks mom, I love you so much. I'll see you tomorrow. Tell dad I said goodnight when he gets home."

"I will, bye Spence."

I closed the door behind me and got in my car, turned it on and began driving toward Aria's house.

When I arrived, I walked up the steps and rang the doorbell. Soon enough, Ella Montgomery answered the door.

"Hi Spencer, come on in."

"Thanks Mrs. Montgomery." I said, walking through the door.

"Aria said she will be a few minutes, would you like a drink while you wait?"

"Oh no, I'm fine thank you." I said.

"So, it's been a whole year already. Time really flies doesn't it?" she asked me as we sat down in the living room.

"Yeah it really does, Aria and I have been together for a year now, we're almost finished our senior year, we've got Spring Break in a couple of weeks and then college application forms are answered. It's going to be a busy few weeks ahead for us."

"Oh of course, it's all art of the process. I'm sure you would get accepted wherever you apply to."

"Well, I hope so, I have my heart set on Princeton but it's always nice to have options."

Just then, Aria came down the stairs in a short length black dress, it was low cut, and hugged her tightly above her waist, before it began to flow over her thighs and cut off just at her knees. She looked stunning, but then she always did, and no matter how many times I saw her, walking down the stairs looking beautiful, it would always take my breath away.

I saw Ella smile and nod before walking into the kitchen. I made my way to the stairwell. She got to the last step where I stood waiting with a single white rose in my hand. She stopped in that spot and looked into my eyes, smiling, with her eyes glistening.

"A single white rose." She whispered, as I handed it to her.

"Like our very first date." I said, my heart racing.

"I love you. So so much." She said, pulling me into a tight embrace and kissing my cheek softly as she pulled back. I caught a tear rolling down her cheek with my fingertip.

"Why are you crying baby?" I asked, holding her cheek in my hand.

"Because this is surreal. Because you're so wonderful to me. Because you love me so much. And because I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life and I can't contain it. I can't contain how much I love you, I just need to be with you all the time, I need you near me, and when you're not, my heart aches, but as soon as I see you, it all just melts away, and I'm left with so much raw emotion, I just can't control it. Ergo, tears." She said, sniffling.

I moved my hands to her waist and slid them up her back as I pulled her into me, hugging her tightly and then leaving feather light kisses to her exposed neck and chest. All she could do was steady her breathing and her hold on me grew tighter with each placement of my wet lips to her skin.

"Spencer…" she breathed contently in my ear. I pulled back and pressed my lips to hers. The kiss wasn't lengthy, but it was the single moment which captured the emotions we were both feeling, and those kisses are the best kind.

"Come on, let's go. We have places to be." I said, taking her hand and pulling her through the door and into my car.

-XXXX-

A while later, after making our way into Philadelphia, we arrived at the restaurant I had booked us into, we took our seats and Aria and I spent our evening reminiscing about all the things that had happened over the past year.

"I just can't believe it's all gone by so fast. Everything is just moving so quickly, I wish time would just slow down, so I could enjoy all of these kinds of moments with Hanna and Emily" she paused "and most importantly you..." Aria smiled at me, picked up my hand and kissed the back of it.

"I know baby, I do too, but we just have to make the most of what time we have left." I smiled.

The waiter came with our bill and after I had paid, we made our way to the hotel I had booked us in to. When we arrived, we checked in and made our way upstairs. I slid the key card into the door until the green light flashed and the clicking sound ended, opening the door quickly and throwing our bags inside.

I headed straight to the window to look at the view of the city we had from our hotel room.

"Aria, you have to see how beautiful this view is." I said excitedly.

I felt two hands slide along my hips before they joined together around my waist, and a second later I felt her hot breath tickle the back of my ear as she spoke;

"I don't think anything is more beautiful than the view I have of you." She whispered, as she kissed the back of my neck, gently tugging at the straps of my dress, trying to take them off, which sent shivers down my spine and shot them to every inch of my body.

"Aria…" I panted loudly, the desire I felt for her at that moment was one that usually only happened when she and I hadn't been 'alone' in quite a while, but this was not one of those times, this was just the mix of emotions, feelings, desperate need and want and the lines between each were blurring.

My head was become progressively foggier as the seconds passed and my dress passed my waist and fell onto the floor. My desire was fuelled by her seduction, and not once during all of this has she turned around. Not once.

Her lips and hands were slowly, torturously working their way down my body as seemingly aimlessly as possible. Her kisses were placed to my shoulders and mid back as her hands ran ticklingly along my inner and upper thighs. I shuddered and felt my knees go weak as her hands did their seductive work. It seemed obvious what she was doing to me because she had quickly moved me over to the large king sized bed in our room, laid me down and climbed on top of me.

Her hips straddled my lower waist and our centres were pressed together and I was suffocated with kisses to my lips, neck and chest. The feelings coming over me were strange as all I could do was let her take me, with no fight or teasing, I was paralyzed with desire and I just needed to have her. Or rather, I needed her to have me.

She pulled back slightly from her explorations around my body to catch her breath and I could see the lust in her eyes and her now slightly tinted-red facial expressions, when a devilish smirk graced her lips. She leaned in to me once more, but moved her lips to my ear, gently kissing licking and nibbling on it, as her hands continued stroking my thighs.

"You know, I love it when you take control, but right now, you just letting go and letting me do what I want with you is really turning me on." As the last word of that sentence left her lips she moved her hand and cupped my centre over my lacy black underwear and I gasped, slightly because of her cupping me but mostly from her admission.

"Aria, I need you baby, please." I begged. Never have I ever begged for anything, but I guess that was just what this type of desire seemed to be doing to me.

"Mmmm Spence, hearing you beg makes me so wet…"

With that, I was sold. Let the reign of begging commence.

"Oh please Ar, I need you, I can't take it, you control my body and it does whatever you make it do, I need you to make me come." I begged, mercilessly, wanting to make her as horny as possible because I just couldn't handle it anymore.

"Baby, I'll give you anything you want…" she whispered before viciously pressing our lips together, failing to keep up this teasing game but not caring because the time for teasing was over and the time for action was now.

She removed my bra and lacy panties without hesitation and threw them across the room. She kissed me passionately before making her way down my body, with kisses, licks and bites occurring along the way, making me squirm even more. When she reached her destination my mind exploded and my hips jerked upwards as a very loud moan escaped my lips.

Aria running her wet tongue along my hot centre was almost enough to push me over my already small edge, but after she swirled her tongue around my throbbing clit a few delicious times, I was gone, and this time it was my body exploding.

I had my eyes closed for an unknown amount of time, but when I opened them, I was ready to devour the girl who had just caused my head to go fuzzy.

I quickly moved on top of her and began kissing and biting her lips, fumbling to try and rip her dress off of her body. And that is just what I did. I looked at the two pieces of material which had previously been one in my hands before looking at Aria, who again had nothing but lust in her eyes, and I decided to just rip the rest of the dress from her body and throw it on the floor, which elicited a giggle from her, before she pulled me down to lie between her legs.

"Spence… please…" she begged, her body squirming beneath me as her hips were grinding into mine, and making me wet again.

"What do you need baby?" I asked teasingly, as I started grinding my centre against hers, as slowly as was humanly possible.

"I need… I need you all over me…" she panted, digging her nails into my shoulders as she pushed her hips into my now thrusting ones to create more friction between us.

I shifted in my position slightly, so that our centres were pressed tightly together, and my arms were around her body as she wrapped her arms around my neck, all to give me better access to Aria's core which was faultlessly grinding against me, so that I could fulfil her request.

I started to grind against her slowly, teasingly, making her moan and writhed underneath me, pulling me further into her before I started thrusting my hips harder against hers, and that's when the real moaning started.

"Spence, don't stop, please don't stop!" she yelled.

And I didn't, I thrust into her again and again until she yelled out my name one final time, and collapsed with exhaustion, and I collapsed alongside her, pulling her into my arms.

"Damn." I said after a few moments.

"Yeah…That was... what's the word I'm looking for?" She asked, unable to form coherent sentences yet.

"Intense?"

"Yeah! Intense…"

"It was great."

"… Oh yeah" she moaned as she bit her lip.

"You know when you moan and bite your lip like that it just makes me horny again." I whispered in her ear.

"I know…" she whispered back, running her hand down my stomach and sliding two fingers inside me with ease.

This would be a fun night.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**

**Been a while, but here's a very very short update to keep things fresh... ish.**

**More to come soon (hopefully), i'm just trying to find time between work and mass alcohol consumption and planning trips and Postgraduate courses, to write.**

**Read, Enjoy, Review.**

_2 weeks later._

"Hey Spence, can you come in here for a second?" I heard my mom ask from her office.

"What's up?" I stood at the glass door waiting for her to finish typing before she began speaking.

"I have something to ask you." She said smiling at me.

"Okay… shoot" I was slightly worried but sat down in a chair beside her desk.

"Do you know if the girls have any plans for next week?"

"For our break you mean? I don't think so; I mean they probably would have said if they were going somewhere, why?" I eyed her suspiciously, I was untrusting of her smirk.

"Oh, no reason, I was just making idle chat. Thank you sweetheart, I better get back to my work." She said, still smirking.

"O.K." I left the room and went back upstairs trying to figure out what my mother was up to.

-XXXX-

I woke up the next day and got ready for school. After packing my bag for field hockey training after school, I made my way downstairs and poured a large cup full of coffee.

"Morning sweetheart." My mom said as she entered the room.

"Morning." I turned and smiled at her.

I finished the last of my coffee and washed off the cup, before saying goodbye to my mom and making my way to Aria's house to collect her before school.

-XXXX-

After a very long day of classes, I was at my locker putting books away and taking out my bag for practice when I felt two hands slip around my waist.

"Hey, I missed you." I heard her whisper in my ear.

"I saw you 2 hours ago." I said turning and smiling at her.

"That doesn't mean I don't miss you." She said, pressing her lips to mine. "Wanna do something tonight?"

"Sure, I have practice now but I'll go home and change my clothes and come get you after, sound good?"

"Sounds perfect." She smiled at me and kissed me one last time before disappearing out the door.

-XXXX-

After a hard practice I grabbed my water bottle and went inside to shower and get home as quickly as possible.

I opened my locker to grab a towel and checked my phone before I showered.

When the screen came to life, it showed 17 missed calls from Hanna, Emily and Aria and a dozen texts from them. I started panicking noticing that there were absolutely no details in the text, but "GET HOME ASAP" seemed to be the overall message.

Worried out of my mind, I threw my towel back in and grabbed my things, running out the door to get to my car and get home as fast as possible.

The thoughts running through my mind were not helping to calm me down, as I feared something awful had happened.

I pulled into my driveway a short while later and jumped out of my car, running to open the door and running into my house.

As soon as I did, I noticed Hanna, Aria and Emily sitting on the couch in my living room, while my mom, Ella, Pam and Ashley stood across from them.

"What's going on? What's happened?" I asked panting.

"Sit down sweetheart." My mom said smiling. I was really freaking worried now. Reluctantly, I sat down beside Aria who smiled weakly at me, and took my hand, squeezing it hard.

"There's no need to be worried girls, we just have you all here together because we want to give you something." My mom said, before opening her briefcase and handing each of us an envelope with our names written on the front.

We all looked at each other, scared to open them and find out what was inside.

"Come on, open them!" Ella said with a huge grin on her face.

We all slowly opened the envelopes and examined the very slim contents.

"OH MY GOD!" Hanna was the first to react and scream louder than I ever heard her scream before, only cats could understand her now.

"Spence…. I…" Aria said, wide eyed with her jaw on the floor.

I looked at the slip of paper in my hand, and carefully examined it.

"PHL… to…." I couldn't finish the sentence.

"London heathrow!" Emily exclaimed.

"LONDON BABY!" Hanna yelled.

"What? London? We're going to London? All of us?"

"That's right. For Spring Break." I looked up and saw my mom smiling widely and she winked at me.

"Oh my god! I can't believe it! But how?!" I asked.

"Well, I thought it might be nice for you all to have a trip together, for your Senior Year." My mom explained. "So, I called Ella Pam and Ashley to see if it would be okay for me to book a trip for you, they all said yes, and I made the arrangements."

"Everything's going to change for you four soon enough and we all decided that we want you to have a great trip together, just the four of you." Ella said, smiling at her daughter.

Each of us hugged our moms tightly, thanking them and jumping around hugging each other and yelling.

After a few minutes of this, Hanna jumped back.

"Guys this is awesome and all, but Spence we can't keep hugging until you've had a shower, like seriously, do you always just leave after your practice? Talk about bad hygiene." She shook her head disapprovingly.

"You have to be joking! I had 10 messages from you telling me to get my ass home straight away, I thought something had happened so I just left the school right away!" I said.

"Hanna, leave Spencer alone. Spencer, go have a shower." Aria said diplomatically, arms crossed, eyebrows raised.

"Okay okay, I'm going." I said, giving Hanna a death glare before I left.

"NOW SPENCER." She said, and I ran.

"Looks like we're gonna have to be peacemakers on this trip." I heard Emily say.

"Looks like it." Aria said, and I could hear a distinct smile in her voice.

Next week I would be in London with my two best friends and my girlfriend. Unsupervised. To run wild and free. To do what we wanted.

This was gonna be awesome.


	6. Chapter 6

_A few days later_

It was Friday, the day before we were due to leave for London, and I, being me, had already packed and organised everything I would need for the week.

While Hanna, being Hanna, was a complete and utter mess, which is why I was now lying on her bed with Aria and Emily underneath her entire wardrobe, being suffocated.

"HANNA!" I yelled.

"What?!" she yelled back. Packing lulz.

"We're only going for a week, you don't need to pull your entire clothing collection apart for things to bring!" I stated matter of factly.

"I need outfits Spence, OUTFITS!" she stared at me.

"I understand that but the fact that I just pulled a FEATHER out of my mouth, suggests you need to take it down a notch." I wasn't kidding, I now had blue ass pieces of feather in between my teeth.

"Okay okay, I think I'm done." She said, standing back admiring her choices.

"Excellent now pack them so we can go and get pizza."

"Right. You guys go, I'll catch up in a minute when I've thrown everything in."

Aria, Emily and I (somehow) got up from Hanna's bed and made our way outside, toward my car.

"Okay guys, back to mine and then pizza?" I suggested.

"Sure, are we staying over tonight?"

"I think it will make it easier tomorrow, we can just go straight to the airport that way. So will we go and pick up your stuff and then head back to mine?"

"Sounds great." Emily and Aria said in unison.

-XXXX-

After collecting both Aria and Emily's luggage and texting Hanna to bring hers with her when she is coming to my house and receiving a very disgruntled reply, we final got to order the pizza I had been craving all day.

"Happy now?" Aria smiled as I munched on my 5th slice.

"Very." I said happily, with my mouth full.

We were all laying around comfortably on the couch as we watched movies when my mom walked through the door.

"Hi girls, all set for tomorrow?" she asked, sitting on the arm rest of the couch Aria and I were cuddled up on.

"More or less. We got there in the end anyway." I said as I stared at Hanna. Aria, Emily and my mom all looked over at her as she sat and ate happily, before feeling eyes on her and slowly turning her head, wide-eyed, mouth packed full of food.

"Hmmmph?!"she asked, irritated.

"Nothing Hanna." I laughed.

"Be nice Spencer." My mom said light-heartedly. "Do you need a ride to the airport tomorrow?"

"I was gonna take my car, I put all of our suitcases in it already so we just have to get up and go in the morning."

"And straighten our hairs, don't forget straighten our hairs!" Hanna squeaked.

"Yes Hanna." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay sweetheart, I have an early meeting so I'm going to have a shower and go to bed. You should think about doing the same, you all have a long day tomorrow."

"Yeah, we're going up as soon as the movie is over."

"Okay, I won't see you in the morning so have a wonderful time girls, and be careful. Spencer, call me when you get there and every day okay? I won't sleep if I don't know that you're okay." My mom said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Of course, I will." I got up and gave my mom a tight hug "thanks so much for this, I really appreciate it, and everything you do for me." I said, pulling away.

"We're so proud of you Spencer, we just want you to know how much, and how much we love you. This is just a way for us to show you that. Goodnight sweetheart." She smiled and went upstairs.

I sat down, content, and wrapped my arms around Aria once more, pulling her close and giving her a tight squeeze and nuzzling into her neck. She sighed happily and interlocked our fingers.

I couldn't wait to spend a week in London with her.

-XXXX-

I woke up the next morning and hit my alarm, to stop it ringing so god damn loudly.

Currently 5am. Flight is at 10am. 8 hours on a plane. Arriving in London at approximately 11pm GMT time. How does 8 hours on a plane equate to London being 5 hours ahead of Philadelphia?

Nope, it's too early for math. And Geography.

Unravelling myself slightly from around Aria's body, I gently stroked her hair and tried waking her up.

"Aria, baby we have to get up…" I whispered.

"Bleugh, 5 more minutes she said, turning to lie on her stomach.

"Aria, we're going to London today, wake up sleepy." I whispered into her ear before placing kisses down the back of her neck and her back, running a hand up her leg and underneath her body, slipping it deep into her shorts.

"OKAY I'M AWAKE" she jumped suddenly.

"I thought that might work." I smirked, very smug my plan had worked as I moved to get out of bed. I felt a hand on my wrist, pulling me back down onto the bed.

"Where'd you think you're going?" Aria said seductively, before pulling me on top of her.

"To shower and get dressed?" I raised a curious eyebrow.

"Nuh uh, you're staying here…" she whispered, pushing up into me before attacking my lips with hers and pulling at the thin material of my top.

"Guys, we have a country to go to, there's plenty of time for hanky panky when we get there now get out of bed and get a move on!" Hanna stated bluntly before removing herself from my room.

"How does she get in here without me hearing her, I swear she's a ninja." I laughed.

"She's a special kind of talent." Aria said, smirking.

"She sure is… alright, we better get ready."

-XXXX-

After an hour in the car, and 3 in the airport, we were finally on the plane. Much to Hanna's delight and my sanity's delight. Morning Hanna was annoying. Come to think of it, so was afternoon Hanna. And evening Hanna. Hmmm.

After taking our seats, and moving toward the runway, I noticed Aria gripping her seat tightly.

"Hey babe? Are you okay?" I asked, slipping my hand in hers.

"Yeah. I just don't like take off. Or landing. Or turbulence. Not that great of a flier to be honest." She smiled weakly.

"Did you know that more people are killed by donkeys each year than in plane crashes?"

"O.K, so what's your point?" she asked confused.

"Have you seen any donkeys lately?" I asked.

"Um, no?" still confused.

"Exactly…" I winked.

She burst out laughing. Disturbing some of the other passengers who were idling chatting, and now giving us dirty looks. Namely Hanna and Emily. Ooops.

"You're crazy." She whispered.

"About you." I whispered, smiling at her.

"You big cheese."

"Say cheese again and you'll make me hungry."

She smiled at me and took my hand, interlocking our fingers and holding on tight as we prepared for take-off. As we took off down the runway I placed my free hand on top of our interlocked hands as Aria took deep breaths.

Once we were in the air, she loosened her grip on my hand and rested her head against my shoulder, while I let mine fall gently on top of hers. Before I knew it, sleep had taken over me.

-XXXX-

I woke up a while later and looked at my watch. 2pm. Just another 4 hours to go. I noticed Aria had left her seat and was sitting across from Hanna and Emily with lots of pens and paper surrounding them, since business class was pretty empty, I moved over to take a seat next to her and see what they were up to.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" I asked sleepily as I sat down next to Aria.

"Were writing down everywhere we wanna go while we're in London, and we're trying to organise it."

"You guys are trying to organise plans and times. On a trip. And you didn't think to ask me?" I asked, holding back a laugh.

"Well, smarty pants we thought we could it without you."

"And?"

"We can't."

"Thought so, give it here." I said, and Emily handed me a piece of paper.

"Okay, where is it you guys wanna go?"

"Trafalgar Square, Camden Market, Buckingham Palace, London Zoo, The London Eye, the Tower of London…" Hanna trailed.

"Aaaaand the word 'London' has lost all meaning." I joked.

"Well I didn't name them, did I?" Hanna said sarcastically.

"Where else?"

"Oh! Can we go to UAL?" Aria chimed.

"What's UAL?" Hanna asked.

"It's the University of the Arts in London, but they have exhibitions every year and they show the best student pieces at the events and they auction them off, it's really great exposure for them, when they're still learning, it gets their name out there. I think it's really cool." Aria said smiling.

"Sounds great, I'll add it to the list." I said, giving her a chaste kiss.

"Okay, I'm gonna study the locations and underground tube map."

"Spence, this is a vacation, why are you studying?" Hanna asked laughing.

"Because I like to be prepared, have you seen this underground map? It's gonna take a hell of a lot to try and get us all around using this as our only guide." I said, holding up the small piece of paper my dad had given me.

"What?!" Hanna said panicking. "That's not a map, that's a child's scribble! A child who has an extensive crayon collection…" she said exacerbated.

"It's okay, guys, I can figure it out. If I can understand AP Chem, I can understand a simple map of line drawings." I said reassuringly. I can do it. Can't I?

-XXXX-

O.K so after 30 minutes spent getting OUT of Heathrow Airport and 15 minutes trying to figure out this map, I had come to the conclusion that I couldn't, in fact, do it.

"Okay, I think we need to get the Picadilly to South Kensington and then interchange to get District to Sloane Square, and then get a taxi from the station to the hotel. Sound good?"

"I'd like to say yes but I have no idea what you're talking about." Hanna said sighing.

"Okay, let's just go with this and see how it goes, I'm pretty sure about it." I said, pretending to be confident when in reality I was bricking it. Would you look at that, London was rubbing off on me already.

_25 minutes later_

After a lot of moaning and whining from Hanna and my jet-lagged pals, we arrived at Sloane Square tube station. After hailing a black cab, we piled in and headed towards the Berkeley hotel my mom had booked us into.

We arrived a short cab ride later and made our way inside. I checked us in and we got our room keys.

After making our way up the elevator with great difficulty, we got to our rooms.

"Okay guys, we'll see you in the morning." I said, opening Aria and I's room while Emily opened her and Hanna's.

"Okay, night guys."

"Night." We said, walking through the door and dropping our suitcases on the floor.

Aria ripped off her clothes and fell on the bed, pulling the large blanket up around her. I stripped down to my underwear and climbed in next to her, pulling her into my arms before whispering a laboured 'goodnight', followed by an 'I love you' before we both let sleep pull us under.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:**

**Aloha!**

**I'm so on a roll with this story now, I know what i'm doing and the plan is in motion and I've finally gotten some motivation. 2 chapters in 2 days.**

**Thanks for the kind reviews on the previous chapter. Mucho appreciated.**

**I have actually been to London myself, i went last year to see a 3 Doors Down concert. I didn't really get to do much exploring because of Uni and work, leaving me with only 2 days in London, minus a night that I went to the concert.**

**I have been to some of the places I'll be writing about, but not all of them.  
**

**Though I did go to the trouble of actually mapping out all of the places I mention on a Google map I created. AND cross referenced with a tube map. So the stations and everything are correctly referenced. You could actually follow my directions, since they're all right.**

**You see the kind of research I do?**

**If you ever are planning on going to London, don't let my over exaggerations deter you, the tube really isn't that bad, once you get used to it. It's pretty easy to get around actually, the map itself just looks a hell a confusing.**

**Seriously, Google it if you don't believe me.**

**Anyway, rambles.**

**Please Read and Enjoy! and Review if you're lovely.**

I woke up the next day, unsure of my exact location. I looked to my side and saw Aria sleeping peacefully. Well, wherever I was at least I had her.

After a few moments I got my bearings, and got out of bed to have a shower and wash all of yesterday off of me. After finding the bathroom and turning on the water, I reluctantly looked at myself in the mirror, jet-lag very apparent in my features. I hoped a shower and a good scrub down would fix that. I hoped. Sometimes hope wasn't enough though, was it?

I heaved myself into the shower and let the steam and heat consume me for a moment, wavering my focus enough that I didn't notice the entrance of someone in the bathroom until Aria ran her hands down my sides.

I turned to face her, smirking, before our lips collided. The kiss was wet, and desperate, she made no bones about the fact she very much wanted me then and there.

I guess jet-lag did different things to different people. It made me look like a zombie. It made Aria very, very horny. But as she slid her hand between my thighs, in that moment, I was in no position to complain.

-XXXX-

Hanna had impeccable timing on a normal day, but jet-lag seemed to be my friend again in this situation as she didn't walk in on Aria and I unannounced whilst we were in a compromising position. That made a change.

Emily came in shortly after Hanna had, arms full of maps and tourist type gadgets, explaining excitedly all the amazing things London had to offer. She didn't stop talking for a solid 10 minutes. She was never usually this chatty.

As a group we were completely off our games, London was apparently a parallel universe. Who knew?

After we all threw on some clothes and gathered ourselves, we made our way downstairs to get some breakfast.

Today was Saturday. Wait? Or was it Sunday? I couldn't remember. We got a newspaper with breakfast and I glimpsed at the front cover; 'Sunday'. Okay, today was Sunday, and we were leaving on Friday night, late. That was 6 full days in London. 6 days, and I was going to make it count. We were going to make it count.

"Okay guys, so the plan for today is: the London eye, lunch in the city and then Buckingham Palace: if anyone can make those guys with the hats laugh, it's Hanna." I said as we sat, eating a large spread of food, courtesy of Hanna. And of course, the hotel.

"Is that all? Come on guys! London Baby!" Hanna said excitedly.

"Alright, Tribbiani, calm down. I know it's not much but we just got here, I'm exhausted and I think we should do things that don't require much energy and still have a good time, go for a nice meal and then come back, get some rest and tomorrow be fresh as daisies." I suggested, trying to explain my reasoning.

"Are daisies even fresh? I mean really?" Aria asked and I looked at her bemused.

"O.K Spence, I guess you're right... For once…" Hanna admitted.

"For once?" I asked, raising a very curious and accusatory eyebrow.

"Yes. ONCE." Hanna said, raising the same eyebrow as me.

"Alright guys, that's enough, let's get going, before I go into labour with this food baby." Emily said laughing.

We thanked our waiter and grabbed our things, making our way out onto the street. Hanna may be annoying but she is correct. London Baby!

-XXXX-

"Okay, so we get Picadilly to Green Park and then interchange, getting the Jubilee to… Waterloo. And then we can walk to the Eye." I said nodding happily to myself for finally getting the hang of this tube map. I put my stupidity last night down to jet-lag, since the Picadilly line stopped right outside the hotel and I, for some reason, thought we needed to switch. A wasted £20 for the cab, but I wouldn't let tell the girls. I didn't feel like being beaten by Hanna after all. I looked up to find my friends staring at me with strange looks on their faces.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You sound like something from the Matrix." Hanna said.

"Have you seen the Matrix?" I inquire.

"No." she said simply.

"Then how could you know what something from the Matrix sounds like?" she was frustrating me now.

"I don't, I'm just assuming." She said shrugging. I paused and stared at her.

"ANYWAY." I looked away and noticed the train had arrived. "Come on! Let's go."

We hopped on the train, and after changing trains a few moments later, we found ourselves at Waterloo station.

"Waaaaaaterlooooo…. Couldn't escape if I wanted TOOOOOOOO!" Hanna sang at the top of her lungs.

"Don't think it's the same one, Han." I said simply.

"A girl can dream, can't she?" Hanna laughed.

"You're dreaming about being in the same Waterloo that the war was in? I think this one may be slightly better. Now enough singing, let's go look at things from a slightly escalated height."

We made our way out of the station and towards the London Eye. It was a beautiful day out and luckily, we didn't really need the coats we had brought with us, after being warned that London was extremely cold. We arrived at the London Eye after a short walk by the Thames. The Eye was huge. We got in the relatively short queue and waited to get on.

"Wait, we have to get on WHILE IT'S STILL MOVING? Can't they stop it for, like, a sec?" Hanna asked, looking horrified. The others laughed.

"They don't stop it, it's constantly moving." I explained as she backed away slightly. "Come on, it's easy." I smiled.

"Have you been on it before?" she asked.

"No, but my parents have, they said it's fine. Come on, it'll be a piece of cake for Hanna Marin!" I said holding her hand.

"Okay, but if I die I want it to be known that it was your fault." She said sternly.

"Okay Hanna, whatever you say." I said laughing.

It was finally our turn and Hanna all but Ninja rolled into the pod/compartment. Standing up and looking very pleased with herself, she grinned widely at me and mimicked: "Piece of cake." She grinned wider "Hanna Marin; Londoner Extraordinaire."

"Alright, settle down, Mr. Bond." Aria joked.

We made our way to the sides to look out the window at the view of London before us. It was beautiful. I stood behind Aria, wrapping my arms around her waist and grabbing hold of the wooden bar attached to the window of the pod, effectively keeping her there for the duration with no chance of moving. Hanna and Emily moved around with the rest of our pods population, while Aria and I stood peacefully looking out the window from our original spot.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" she said eventually.

"Yeah. Not as beautiful as you, though." I whispered as I brushed our cheeks together and held her close. I felt her face move and knew there was a smile on her face.

"I love this. Being here. With the girls. And with you. Having this special thing as our own." She sighed, content.

"Me too…" I trailed, holding her even tighter to me.

"I love you." She murmured, barely audible, for my ears only.

"I love you too, Goose. You really have no idea how much." I kissed her cheek softly and we stared out onto the Thames, watching as it started glistening and sparkling in the Spring sunshine, as Big Ben winked at us from his place across the river.

"How long does this thing go on for?" Hanna asked a while later.

"About 45 minutes." I heard Emily respond.

"Really? That long? And how long have we been in here?" she asked, dejected. I saw her slouch on the wooden seat in the centre from the corner of my eye and rolled my eyes, laughing in Aria's ear quietly.

"About 20 minutes." Emily said happily.

"Hey Spence, where are we going for lunch?" she inquired.

"I don't know, I figure we'll get the train back toward Buckingham Palace and then find somewhere close by for something to eat?" I suggested.

"Sure sounds good." Hanna seemed happier now, knowing we would be out of this tiny white pod in the very near future with the promise of lunch at the end.

After we managed to get out of the pods and back on the safety of land with the utmost grace a short while later, we made our way to the station to get back across the river.

We walked for a short amount of time before we found a small café near the Palace and decided on some lunch, to refuel and rest before going to watch Hanna make a fool of herself in front of the guards outside the Palace.

"Hey you!" she yelled, standing a few feet away from the guard. He stared straight ahead.

"Hey! I have a joke for you." She said, moving closer to him. He was still staring ahead.

"What do Henry the VIII and Kermit the Frog have in common?" she asked smiling at him.

No response.

"No idea?"

No response.

"Shall I tell you?" she grinned widely.

No response.

"They have the same middle name."

We all tried to contain our giggling as we watched the guards face. He squinted and scrunched up his face slightly, blinking furiously as he tried to keep the smile from gracing his lips, it kind of looked like he was biting the inside of his gum to stop himself from losing it.

"Please hold your applause, I'm here all week." Hanna said, bowing in front of him and walking merrily over to us.

"Oh my god. I can't believe you did that." Emily said bursting into fits of laughter.

"It was fun." She smiled. "Have you guys gotten enough pictures yet? I'm knackered." She said, putting on a very think and very fake British accent.

"What was THAT?" I asked.

"What? I heard that lady in the café saying it." She defended.

"Oh god. Right, let's get back and get changed so we can go for dinner. You guys all set?"

"Ready." They chimed in unison.

-XXXX-

After we got back to the hotel, I decided to take a shower after all the sweating in the sweat boxes London calls trains, and the walking around. When I came out of the bathroom, I saw Aria sitting on an armrest talking on the hotel phone, saying her goodbyes and hanging up before looking at me.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Hanna and Emily, they were wondering if we could just stay in the rooms and order room service, they're completely exhausted." She explained.

"I told Hanna she would be. Sure, that sounds perfect, just let me get dressed and then we can go get them."

I quickly threw on some clothes and Aria and I knocked on the door of Emily and Hanna's room, Emily answered a minute later and ushered us inside. We placed our orders and picked out a movie to watch.

A short while later we heard a knock on the door and Hanna opened it swiftly, allowing a very young, very attractive man inside the room to set out the trays of food for us. We thanked him and after Hanna giving him the once over, we sat down to chow down. That was a terrible joke.

"Woah, did you see that guy? What a fine piece of ass." Hanna said, munching on her 'chips'.

"He seemed very happy when he was looking straight down your top." Aria laughed.

"He can do what he wants. Phwoar he was SEXY."

After finishing our meals and leaving them outside the door, as per request of our delivery boy, we settled down to finish our movie. As the end credits rolled, I noticed Aria was asleep in my arms.

I motioned for Hanna to open the doors for me, and I picked my sleeping girlfriend up and held her securely in my arms as I walked into our room and lay her down on our bed, tucking her in for the night. I went back into the others' room and said my goodnights.

I brushed my teeth quickly and got into bed next to Aria. She rolled over and cuddled into my side, kissing my neck lightly before falling back asleep. I smiled and closed my eyes, willing myself to dream of something spectacular. But truth be told, nothing my imagination could possibly come up with, would compare to the reality of Aria.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:**

**So I probably would have had this up yesterday but I had the worst migraine all evening and I just couldn't finish it so here it is.**

**It was getting kinda long for my taste so I just found a place to end and did, sorry :P  
**

**Did a POV change in this one, just to give a bit of a change since it worked well in the first story.**

**Read, Enjoy and Please Review. It's hard to update when I feel like no one is reading.  
**

"Okay, so what's on the agenda for today?" Emily asked the next morning as we sat around the table eating breakfast.

"The Tower of London, The London Dungeons and a visit to Trafalgar Square, then out to dinner."

"Hey Spence can we-" Hanna began, and knowing what she would ask I cut her off.

"No."

"Oh come on! One night out won't kill you! Come on! We're legally allowed to drink here so we wouldn't be doing anything wrong!" she said nodding furiously. I paused and looked at her for a moment.

"MAYBE. We'll see okay?" I said, just trying to shut her up.

"Yay!" she said happily, clapping her hands in quick succession.

"Okay come on, let's get going, London isn't gonna wait around!" Aria said, excitedly jumping up from her seat and making her way towards the door.

-XXXX-

"Alright, first stop is the London Dungeons then we'll do the Tower and then head to the Square, does that sound good to everyone?"

"Hey Spence can we go to the art house and see if we can get to a show before we go?" Aria pulled my arm around her shoulders as she smiled up at me as we left the station.

"Sure, we can go before we go to the Square after lunch."

"Thanks." I kissed her forehead and we walked toward the Dungeons.

After buying tickets we made our way inside. Everything quickly became eerie as the main buildings doors and lights left us behind and we were left to our own devices. Our first stop was Descent, which brought us deep into the dungeons. Next we were ushered into Henry's boat and we all held on tightly to each other, hoping wandering fingers and hands were belonging to one of us and not something or someone crawling from the stream beneath us. Shudder.

After the chilling boat ride we were trapped in darkness for what felt like 5 years of my life, with horrible sounds and smells surrounding us, trying our best to get out of there as fast as possible we shuffled along with merit.

Unfortunately the only thing that got us was our encounter with Mrs Lovett and Mr. Todd arrived sooner rather than later. After running away from the Barber and his pie making compadre we headed straight into the den of Jack the Ripper. He was a delight. Mostly on the charming side of creepy. I swear Hanna was even trying to flirt with the guy, and after much persuasion we had to convince her to leave the serial killer labyrinth so we could go to someone else's. She was disappointed.

After we escaped the Drop to signify the end, we hurried the hell out of that place as quickly as possible. Running straight into the gift shop so Hanna could get a T-Shirt with Jack's face enlarged on the front. Aria still hadn't let go of my hand and was deathly gripping onto it like her life depended on it.

"It's okay sweetie, we're outside now." I whispered in her ear as she loosened her grip and linked our arms instead.

After Hanna had purchased all of her Ripper souvenirs, we got on our way to the Tower of London.

On arrival, we got our tickets and were quickly ushered into a waiting room designated for each tour group. Our guide arrived a short while later and took us around the Tower, showing us the Crown Jewels and explaining all the different events in the history of Britain.

About halfway through, I noticed Hanna yawning excessively and knew that she must be hating every minute of this. As we made our way around I kept an eye on her and Emily, seeing Emily keeping her amused for the second half of the tour so she wouldn't start whining.

"Well that was the most boring hour of my life." Hanna said a while later as we found a nice place to sit down and have lunch.

"Well, it's over now so you don't have to go through it again."

"Good. I came to London to have a good time, not get a history lesson. I not even interested in American history nevermind a country I've never been to before." She said before taking a bite from her tub of salad.

"I kind of have to agree with Hanna, it was kind of fun but I'm not much for the history of other countries." Emily said shrugging.

"I actually thought it was really cool." Aria chimed in. "I mean, it's over 10 centuries old and it's been a fortress, a palace AND a prison in that time? What those walls must have seen. I think it's pretty incredible." She said simply.

"I love you so much." I said, pulling her into a sideways cuddle. She laughed and looked at me funny.

"Because I like history and learning interesting things about different countries and their cultures to better my knowledge of the world?" she paused and stared at me. I grinned. "Oh my god, I'm giving you like a brain orgasm right now aren't I?" she said with a laugh.

"Pretty much. I love that you love things like that. I love things like that." I smiled and snuggled into her.

"Well sorry that Emily and I just don't want to be cultured like you two nerds." Hanna said.

"I know you do Spence," Aria continued, ignoring Hanna, "that's one of things I love about you, the fact that you're interested in knowing information that may seem pointless to others." She immediately turned and looked at Hanna with her eyebrows raised and a slight smirk.

"Hey, I like what I like and don't like what I don't like okay. Sorry, jeez." She took another bite of her salad and we all laughed at her munching happily, without remembering a single piece of information she had learned.

-XXXX-

"Okay, everyone ready?" Emily asked as we finished eating our lunch.

"Yup, so you guys are going to the Square and we'll meet you there in a little while." I said, taking Aria's hand in mine.

"How do we know which train to get? What if we get lost?" Hanna asked with concern evident on her face.

"Don't worry Han, Spencer showed me the way to go and all the trains we have to get, we'll be fine." Emily smiled reassuringly.

"Okay, fine… but if I die…" Hanna began

"Yes, yes you'll blame me. I know the procedure." I said rolling my eyes.

She mumbled something and then her and Emily began walking toward the station to catch their train, while Aria and I caught our own to go to the art house and see what kind of shows were on this week.

After we exited the station at Holborn we made our way toward the gallery. We walked up the few stone steps and through the clear glass doors and to the service desk where an attractive woman in her mid-20's sat typing loudly, the sound echoing through the very large, open space surrounding the desk which was completely marble. As we approached the desk the woman looked up from the screen she was staring at and glanced in our direction.

"I'll be with you in 5 minutes, so if you'd like to take a seat over there." She pointed to a large black leather sofa to the side of the room. I nodded curtly and we took a seat.

"This place is huge." I said absently.

"I know. It's fantastic." I noticed Aria looking around with admiration at the mosaic lined across the ceiling and partially on the walls. She noticed the sculptures and displays, and watching her watch the pieces of art work before us was becoming one of my favourite pass-times. Seeing the look in her eyes as she marvelled at the creations she was examining was unlike anything else. It was pure joy and happiness. It was love.

"How may I help you?" the woman had risen from her seat and was now standing in front of us.

"Oh, yes, we were wondering if there are any exhibitions or shows on in the gallery this week?" I asked politely.

"Yes, we had a show on just last night and we also have one on this Wednesday evening at 7pm." She acknowledged Aria with a smile when she saw the glint of happiness in her eye after receiving this news.

"Fantastic! Would it possible for us to perhaps buy some tickets with you?"

"Unfortunately…" she smiled tightly. Too tightly. "This Wednesday evening is the student's exhibition show. There are curators from around Europe coming to see this show and tickets are very limited for the student show every year, I'm afraid they've been sold out for about 2 months."

I could see Aria's heart drop through her eyes. I only saw that look once before, and it was because of me. I won't let that look be because of me again.

"Of course, I understand that, but isn't there any way we could attend? We're only here for a few days and we've really been looking forward to it." I asked her desperately.

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do." She smiled, slightly sadder this time.

"It's okay Spence, let's just go." Aria said with a sad smile.

"No, not yet."

"Spencer. It's fine." She said. I looked at her and then back at the woman.

"Excuse me for just one moment." I said politely to the woman.

"I'm gonna try and get us some tickets, why don't you go and get us some coffee and by the time you get back, I'll have worked my Hastings magic." I grinned widely. She giggled.

"Okay, fine. Meet me outside on the steps in 20 minutes" she leaned in and gave me a chaste kiss on the lips before disappearing through the door. I turned and walk back toward the desk where the woman had sat back down.

"Is the art director here? Perhaps I could speak with him about the show?"

Let the magic begin.

-XXXX-

**Aria's POV**

I walked outside into the sunshine; disappointed knowing there was no way in hell Spencer would get tickets for that show. I know how stubborn she is so I decided to just let her fail in her own way, it meant a lot to me and I know that's why she's doing it, so I guess I'll just have to wander around for the next little while.

As I began walking, I spotted a large green area that was bathed in sunshine, with some tall trees offering the only shaded relief. I started walking through, noticing a large red brick building in the heart of park. The sun was situated behind the steeple at the top, while small shards of light were breaking through.

I spotted a bench up ahead and took a seat, pulling the sketch pad from my satchel as well as some 2B, 6B and 8B pencils. What? I have to carry them everywhere in case of an inspiration strike. I need as much as possible for my Portfolio.

I began sketching, outlining the main features of the scene in front of me, before adding some shading and texture. Using the side of my index to rub through the charcoal like pencil on the page, I corrected the light streaming passed the steeple on my page. I was adding the last few details when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. It was a message from Spencer.

**Spencer:** Where did you go? Did London eat you? Is it like some sort of giant washing machine, but instead of socks it likes people? O_O

**Aria:** Sorry, I went to look around and got distracted. I'll be there in 5 minutes.

After I pressed send I felt a shudder go through me and turned to see a young looking guy sitting on the bench beside me and I jumped out of my skin.

"Holy shit!" I yelled, my hand moving to my chest to steady my panicked heart.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just… I saw you drawing from across the grass and you looked so focused, I wanted to see what you were doing." He said, smiling crookedly at me, his smile showing me the very early signs of crow's feet gracing the sides of his eyes. So I guess he wasn't as young as I first thought. Maybe late 20's, early 30's.

"You scared the hell outta me." I said, breathing deeply.

"Sorry…" he paused and looked at me again. He held out his hand, "I'm Lewis."

I took him in for a moment. Clad in jeans and a shirt, with dirty black converse. His hair was tousled and very dark. His eyes were piercingly blue and pooled like the Caribbean sea, making them very entrancing. He seemed to be genuine and pretty harmless, so I took his hand and shook it.

"I'm Aria."

"Nice to meet you Aria. That's not a very common name you have there."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I used to get teased about it. Quite a bit actually."

"Well I think it's a fantastic name, now you can just tell anyone who says otherwise that you're Aria Stark and you'll kick their butt if they say anything against your name again."

"You like Game of Thrones. We can definitely be friends then." I smiled. He smiled back. I liked this guy.

"So, can I see what you've drawn?" he asked, smiling again, and I looked around for a moment. "I studied art in University, I'm just intrigued to see your style." I handed him my sketch pad and looked at my feet. He paused for a moment before he started to flick through the pages. I found it kind of strange but I didn't say anything.

"These are amazing. Really, all of them are beautiful. Who is this?" he asked, showing me a sketch I had done recently. I smiled at the beautiful brunette displayed on the page before me. The same brunette who was probably arguing with a secretary right now.

"That's my girlfriend, Spencer."

"She's beautiful. You guys clearly aren't from around here…" he trailed.

"Um, no. We're from Philadelphia. We're actually just visiting on Spring Break with our 2 friends, it's our senior year so our parents thought it would be cool to send us on a trip to celebrate."

"That is pretty cool, but… your friends leaving you on your own in a strange country isn't that cool though is it" he laughed. I laughed back.

"Oh no, they didn't leave me. Spencer and I were trying to get tickets to an exhibition this week but it's apparently sold out, so…" I trailed and sighed.

"You mean the student exhibition on in UAL this week?" he asked.

"Yeah, you know it?"

"That's where I studied. I've got some spare tickets, you could have them if you'd like?" he said.

"You did? You do? Oh my god, are you serious right now?" I jumped up from the bench in excitement. I wanted to hug the life out of this guy but I barely knew him and I'm pretty sure the British are against showing emotion in public. Or any kind of emotion at all. Ever.

"Of course, past students get tickets but I have no one to take so I have spares. Is 4 for you and your friends enough?"

"Oh my god, yes! Thank you so much, I don't even know what to say!"

"It's my pleasure. Anyone that is as good an artist as you deserves to see some of the fantastic art that's hot right now." He smiled.

My phone started ringing and I was jolted out of my fantasy. I gave Lewis an apologetic look and answered.

"Hello?"

"Aria? Are you okay? It's been like 10 minutes did you get lost?"

"No, no I'm sorry I got distracted again, I WILL be there in 5 this time. I'll see you soon." I hung up the phone and threw it in my bag.

"I take it that was Spencer?"

"Yeah, I better get back."

"Sure thing. I'll leave the tickets at the reception for you and you can just collect them before you go through into the exhibit."

"That would be amazing, thank you."

"What's your last name?"

"Montgomery. Aria Montgomery." I smiled.

"Well Aria Montgomery from Philadelphia. It was an absolute pleasure to meet you today." He took my hand and shook it gently, smiling widely at me the whole time.

"Thank you so much you don't know how much this means to me."

"You're most welcome. I will see you on Wednesday evening." He said, handing me back my sketch pad.

"See you then." I smiled and skipped along happily making my way toward the gate and out of the park.

I rounded the corner and saw Spencer waiting for me on the steps outside the building.

"There you are, I was about to call the fire brigade." She said jokingly.

"Sorry, I found this park around the corner and just started drawing. I lost track of time."

"As long as you're okay I don't mind. So. Bad news. Bitch in there wouldn't budge an inch and kept on saying that there was no tickets. I asked to see the director and everything and she gave me the usual 'he isn't here' response just to get me out of there. I bat my big brown eyes at her and: nothing. She must be REALLY straight, I mean that usually works for me on everyone."

"It's okay Spence, I got tickets." I said grinning.

"What? How?!" she yelled excited.

I filled her in on what happened in the park and told her how Lewis would be leaving tickets at the reception for us to collect.

"Sounds like he has a crush on you." She said, laughing slightly.

"Oh he does not. He said you were beautiful you know." I said raising my eyebrows at her.

"I like him already."

"Alright cocky, let's go before Hanna starts getting separation anxiety."

I took her hand as we stood up and began walking towards the train station to meet the others.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:**

**Okay so there's a lot of reasons why I haven't updated this and it's quite a long story so i'll just say this:**

**This isn't really what I wanted to do with this chapter, I wanted it to be longer but due to not being able to get onto my laptop in over a week, and me being very very ill right now, this is the chapter that I'm giving you.**

**I hated not being able to update and I just wanted to give you guys something. So if there's mistakes etc. it's because I wrote this in like an hour.**

**Kathrynlb10: This chapter is for you, since you gave me the idea to write what I did.**

**I hope to be able to write another chapter soon but it probably won't be until i get better!**

**Read, Enjoy, Review.**

The next day I woke up early. I called into Hanna and Emily's room to make sure they were awake. We were going to London Zoo and we had to be there early because we had a lot of ground to cover.

I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. A few moments later Emily appeared, have ready to go. Good sign. But I didn't really want to know the answer to whether or not Hanna was even up yet.

You can imagine my surprise when I saw her sitting on her bed, scrolling through something on her phone, fully dressed, make-up done, and hair also done. She was ready. She was the first one of us ready. I looked at Emily and she laughed.

"Hanna. You're ready to go?" I asked.

"Yes Spencer I'm ready. It's the zoo, duh." She said, keeping her eyes fixed on her phone.

"Okay then. Aria and I will just shower and get dressed, then we can go for breakfast."

"Hurry Spencer. We wouldn't wanna be late now would we?" she asked sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes and made my way back to Aria and I's room. I heard the shower on and decided to choose my outfit for the day while I waited for her to finish.

"Morning" she said as she walked passed me in a towel.

"Morning, I'm just gonna shower and get dressed."

"Okay, I'll be almost ready when you get out.

"Cool, Hanna is in there waiting for us."

"You mean she's already showered, dressed and dolled up ready to go."

"Yup. She really likes the zoo I guess."

I showered quickly and threw on a simple jeans and t-shirt combination. I figured being comfortable would be a good idea since we would be walking around all day.

When Aria and I were ready we got Emily and Hanna and we all went for breakfast.

"I'm so excited, I love the zoo!" Hanna said while she stuffed as much fruit into her mouth as possible.

"I know, London Zoo is apparently fantastic. I can't wait."

"Hey Spence, have you thought any more about us…" Hanna said, looking curiously at me.

"Yes. I have. Since we got tickets to the exhibition, and I know that you don't exactly have much of an interest in it, we can go out tonight."

"YES! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" she yelled happily. She got stares. A lot of stares. Aria chimed in.

"You always go with me to these things even though I know you hate them. I told Spencer that and she said O.K. Well… eventually."

"Yup. So you have Aria to thank." I smiled at my wonderful girlfriend.

"Thanks Ar! Woooooo we are gonna get PISSED!"

We each stopped eating and eyed her curiously.

"What? If you're gonna drink with the British, you gotta speak like the British!" She explained. It's pretty logical I suppose.

"Alright come on, the Zoo awaits." Emily said eagerly.

We finished up and made our way to the train station.

-XXXX-

After the zoo, we ordered room service and ate in our rooms as we discussed the night ahead. And chose our outfits. And shoes. So many shoes.

"So, this dress or this dress?" Hanna asked as she held two identical dresses in front of her.

"The black one." Aria said. They were both black.

"That's what I was thinking!" Hanna said smiling.

Seriously? They were both black.

"What are you wearing Spence?" Emily asked curiously.

"I was gonna wear some tight black skinnies, a white shirt and then a waistcoat."

"Well aren't you dapper." Aria said, cuddling into my side.

"That I am."

"Okay, everyone go get dressed! We gotta go paint the town red!" Hanna said excitedly.

-XXXX-

"Okay so where are we going?" Hanna yelped excitedly, as she bounced around the hotel room.

"This club called Babble, the man at reception said it was pretty close by and it just got refurbished so it's got a really cool feel to it."

"Awesome! Let's go!"

"We have to wait for Aria, she's not ready yet Han."

"Well she better hurry her ass up."

"I'll go see if she's ready."

I got up from Emily's bed and made my way back to Aria and I's room. I opened the door and saw her standing in front of the mirror in her underwear putting on the finishing touches to her make-up.

"You almost ready?" I asked, moving behind her and slipping my arms around her waist.

"Yup. Just gotta put my dress on." She smiled at me in the mirror as I pressed my lips to her shoulder and placed a gentle kiss there.

"Can you zip me up?" she asked, moving away and taking the dress from its position in our temporary closet.

"Sure."

I watched as she slipped on a tight fitting short black dress, it was an off the shoulder dress and hugged her tightly, with the sides missing and showing off her smooth curves.

"Spence? Zip me?" she asked with an eyebrow raised, a smirk tugging her lips.

I moved behind her and slowly pulled the small zipper upward. She turned to face me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"You look so beautiful. I love you so much." I said as I got lost in her eyes.

"I love you too." She bit her lip and leaned in, pressing her lips to mine softly.

Before I could get lost in the kiss, she pulled back and picked her bag up from our bed.

"C'mon, Hanna will come in here if we don't leave, and I don't wanna get caught in a compromising position." She laughed.

"At this stage, I think Hanna has seen it all when it comes to us."

We knocked on the door and Hanna opened it immediately, grinned and then closed it.

After a minute of us looking confusedly at each other, the door opened again and Hanna and Emily stepped out, ready to go and looking better than perfection.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road!"

We made our way out of the hotel and got in a taxi to take us the short distance to the club. As we got inside, I saw Hanna's eyes get wide. She looked like a kid in a candy store.

"Oh my god this place is amazing!" she said, immediately locking her eyes on the bar and making it her mission to spend the night there. I followed her over as Emily and Aria went to get us a booth.

"Hanna, I know you wanna have a good time but don't drink TOO much, okay? I don't want you to wander off and get lost."

"Oh live a little Spence, it's London! You never let your hair down and have any fun, you're a sure thing to get into Princeton and nothing will change that, so go a little crazy for once, you deserve it!" she yelped, as she handed me a shot. I paused and looked from her to the shot and back again, before taking it and swallowing the whole thing in one swift motion.

It may not have been Dr. Pepper but the fact remained the same, what's the worst that could happen?

-XXXX-

There seemed to be a lot of bad things that could have happened, it had been about 2 hours since that first shot and if I was being honest, I couldn't remember how many I had drank at this point.

Aria and Emily seemed to be more sober than Hanna and I, though maybe they weren't and I was a lot drunker than I thought.

The bar had gotten substantially busier and the DJ had set up shop, as he started to bang out the tunes at full volume. Hanna and I were standing beside the booth where Emily and Aria were talking and laughing. The bar went quiet for a moment before the DJ spun a new song out.

_I can't tell where the journey will end,_

_But I know where it starts…_

"OH MY GOD THAT'S MY SONG!" Hanna yelled, before grabbing my hand and dragging me onto the dance floor then going back for Emily and Aria.

_So wake me up when it's all over_

_When I'm wiser and I'm older…_

As the song continued we sang at the top of our lungs and danced like we never would again when the beat dropped.

As Alo sang his part, everyone stood still with their hands in the air and then began dancing again when the chorus came back.

Aria pulled me over to her and wrapped her arms around my neck, and we danced together. She pulled me down and crashed our lips together with passion, I ran my hands up and down her back, pulling at her tight dress and trying to press us as close together as possible.

When we broke apart, she started giggling and I followed suit. I saw her eyes move to the left slightly and then she got wide-eyed.

I turned to see what she was looking at and what I saw in front of me was Emily and a random red headed girl I had never seen before with their tongues down each other's throats, as the red head slid her hands to Emily's breasts and then pushed her back against the edge of the dance floor, she pulled back, turned around and started to grind on Emily.

I turned back to Aria with my mouth open wide and saw her laughing in shock. Suddenly Hanna jumped out from the crowd and into us.

"OH MY GOD! Did you see Emily over there with that chick?!" She yelled into my ear.

"I know! Who is she!?" I yelled back, Hanna motioned for us to follow her back to the booth we had been sitting at.

"Me and Em were just dancing and this girl came over and started dancing around her and smiling at her, so I pulled Emily over to me and told her to go and kiss her. I thought Emily being Emily would probably say no and then just keep dancing but she just shrugged and went over and started making out with her!" Hanna laughed.

"Our little Em is growing up." Aria said.

The DJ put on another favourite song of Hanna's and she leapt of the leather seat she had been sitting on.

"Come on, let's get back out there!" she yelled, grabbing Aria and I's hands once more, and pulling us onto the dance floor once again.

-XXXX-

When the club started to close up for the night, we collected our things and made our way outside. As the cool night air hit me I started to sober up slightly, noticing that none of us had gotten completely wasted. I consider that progress.

"Hey" Aria whispered in my ear as she moved to cuddle into my side and wrap her arms around my waist.

"Hey…" I said, smiling down at her.

"So… when we get back to the hotel… you wanna…" she ran her fingers down my back as she trailed ad licked her lips.

"I definitely wanna…" I was cut off by Hanna jumping between us.

"Okay, so I need a favour." She said.

"What?" I asked.

"Okay, so Em is bringing that chick back to the hotel…" she trailed and we all looked at each other.

"Em is bringing a chick back? To have casual sex with her? Our Emily?" Aria asked in shock.

"I think so… And I'm all up for Em letting her hair down so I don't wanna be in the way… so… could I, you know… crash with you guys for the night?" she asked smiling.

I looked at Aria and she looked back at me and shrugged. So much for having some alone time with my girlfriend.

"Sure."

"Thanks guys!" she smiled

"Guess we'll have to take a raincheck huh?" Aria asked disappointed.

"I guess so."

At that moment, our taxi pulled up and we all squeezed in and we set off for our hotel, Aria, Hanna, Emily and I, as well as our tag along who I had come to find out was named Chloe.

As least someone would be getting some tonight.

**A/N: (2)**

**Just wanted to say that the reason I didn't write the zoo trip is because 1) I didn't get to go myself when I was in London and 2) trying to research it and write it would have taken time that I just didn't have, and I wanted to update so that's that.**

**See you next time.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:**

**Update!**

**Sorry it took a while, I'm feeling much better so I hope i'll be able to get back into the flow of everything.**

**I hope you guys like this chapter. All mistakes are mine, I have to be in work soon so I didn't have time to edit or anything and i****t's my friends birthday so I am heading to Dublin to go out and get drunk tonight, which is why I had to put this up now.**

**Read, Enjoy, Review.**

I woke up early the next morning to the sound of Hanna's snoring.

The events of the previous night came flooding back to me and I couldn't help but wonder how my friend in the next room was feeling right now. None of us could believe that Emily was the one to bring someone back to the hotel.

I heard Aria stirring beside me and I leant down to kiss her head, she turned to face me and smiled widely.

"Morning sleepy head." I brushed a stray strand of hair from her eyes and gently caressed her cheek

"Mmm morning." She said as she snuggled into me and pulled me into a kiss.

I slipped my hands underneath her body and slid them down her back. Aria held onto my neck and shoulders as she pulled me on top of her and grabbed my lower back, effectively pressing me and keeping me close to her.

I slid my leg between her legs and pressed my thigh tightly against her centre, she gasped in my ear and I began an attack on her neck and chest with my mouth.

"Wait… Spence…" she put a hand to my chest as she pushed me back slightly. "Hanna…"

"Has been awake for quite a while now." We both turned slowly to see Hanna staring at us with an eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face, and in unison we went wide-eyed. "My my my, you two put on a good show."

"Oh god…" Aria said as she pulled the blankets over her head. I felt my cheeks burning slightly.

"Nice work Spence."

Now my red face was going back to normal and I grinned widely. Hanna stood up to high five me.

"Don't encourage her!" Aria said sternly as she pulled back the covers to look at me.

"Come on guys, get up and get ready we have shopping to do!" Hanna yelled excitedly as she leapt up from her seat.

-XXXX-

"So, Chloe, tell us about yourself." Hanna had been waiting for 10 minutes for Emily and her conquest to join us at the breakfast table so she could grill her and get some details of their extra-curricular activities. Let the grilling commence.

"Not much to tell. I'm 18, I'm gay, and I'm in my final year of school."

"What do you for fun? What are our hobbies? Hopes for the future?" Hanna inqured, seemingly very interested in this chick.

"Normal stuff, spend time with my friends, I like to take photographs, paint and sketch whatever I see. I always keep a sketch pad with me."

"I do that too!" Aria chimed in excitedly.

"Yeah? You draw?" she smiled.

"Yeah, I love it. I'm hoping to study art in college."

"Me too! I've applied to a few of the schools here in London, but I won't find out for another few weeks whether or not I got in to any of them."

"That's great, I hope it works out for you."

"Thanks, you too. I better go you guys, I told my mum I was staying with a friend last night so I should get home. It was nice meeting you all." She stood up and Emily followed suit.

"Yeah you too." Aria said smiling.

"Nice to meet you Chloe." I said. Hanna stood up and pulled the girl into a hug which surprised her but she smiled and laughed nonetheless.

"Bye you guys."

Chloe and Emily left the table and Emily returned shortly after.

"Damn bro, wait to go!" Hanna said as she held her hand up to Emily for a high five, for which Hanna received a confused look from Emily.

"Don't leave me hangin' Em! Nice job for tappin' that!"

"Hanna!" Emily yelped, her face becoming redder by the second.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"Han, what Emily does is her own business and she doesn't owe us any explanation." Aria chimed.

"Okay, okay, sorry I was just trying to be supportive. I hope you at least got her number…"

"Alright enough of that, come on let's get out of here." I said quickly, trying my best to take the heat off of Emily.

-XXXX-

_**Later that evening**_

After a stressful day of shopping, a.k.a following Hanna around and making sure she didn't run into traffic because she was such an excited puppy, we made it back to the hotel in one piece to get ready for the art show. We decided to grab something to eat before the show started at 7pm. I was mostly thinking that a full of food Hanna would complain less about being bored.

So far, the plan wasn't working. Seen as we were only in the taxi on our way to the show and she was already whining.

"I mean, how long will it go on for?" she whined from the back seat.

"You can stay pretty much as long as you want, but it's about an hour and a half of main events and speeches etc. We can leave soon after that Han, I promise." Aria said.

"Okay…" she said pouting.

"Okay, we're here." I said as we pulled up. I handed the driver some cash and we all made our way out of the taxi and into the reception area, where Lewis had left the tickets for us.

The same woman from a few days ago was stood behind the desk, welcoming people as they entered. Today she was clad in a very short and very tight red dress. I knew she was the devil.

We made our way toward the desk and she smiled as she saw us walking over to her. Her smile quickly dissipated when she realised who we were, and it down right transformed into a death glare when she saw me. Ooops.

"I'm sorry ladies, but my answer from the other day still remains. There is no possible way for you to attend this evening's show." she smiled tightly but it didn't reach her eyes. Bitch.

I was about to step in and give her a piece of my mind but Aria beat me to the punch.

"And we completely understood that but you see Lewis actually left four tickets for us here, the name is Aria Montgomery." She smiled back, just as tightly. Damn I was hot for her right now.

"Put the claws back in please Charlotte, these ladies are my guests." A male voice interrupted, and 'Charlotte's' tone and body language immediately switched into some kind of bubbly, friendly, slumber party leader. I was definitely sure she was the devil. And that she clearly had some sort of weak spot for this guy.

"Of course, here are your tickets and have a wonderful evening." She smiled widely… and happily. Too happily.

"Ms. Montgomery." The man said, taking Aria's hand in his and kissing the back of her hand. I hadn't decided whether that had bothered me or not.

"Mr… Lewis." She tried. He smiled widely at her. "What? You never told me your last name."

"And this beautiful young lady must be Spencer…" he said, moving toward me and shaking my hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"That's me, and likewise. Thank you for giving us these tickets."

"My pleasure." He smiled at me. Okay, so I guess I had to like this guy.

"Who's your friend, Aria?" Hanna asked loudly as she moved to stand right beside me and in mine and Lewis' personal space.

"This is Lewis, he's the reason we're here…" she said smiling at him, before turning to Hanna and moving to her side "…so be nice." She whispered. I grinned. Emily rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I will be the nicest person in the world." She said grinning as she linked arms with Lewis and began her flirting for this evening's target.

"She is unbelievable." I said as I watched her walk inside with him.

"She is. But he's a really nice guy so I'm not worried." She smiled at me.

"Come on guys, we have art to see!" Hanna said as she stood at the door waiting for us.

"I never thought I'd hear Hanna say those words…" I trailed as we all walked through the glass door into the exhibition room.

-XXXX-

After we made our way around and examined the pieces of art, Emily and I were standing by the finger food, munching away, while Aria was chatting to a group of the students whose work was on display at the exhibition.

Throughout the evening, we listened to the speeches of those who made the show possible. From the President of the University who congratulated the students, the donors, who make it possible for the show to be held every year, and some of the curators in attendance who said the high standard of work gets better and better.

Aria had re-joined the group and even though Hanna had been elsewhere for most of the night, she had returned shortly after Aria.

"Where's your boyfriend Han?"

"I don't know, he kept walking off and talking to other people, like he was trying to get away from me. And then he said he needed to 'take care of something' and he'd 'be back shortly', I mean as if!" Hanna stated, clearly annoyed.

"Maybe he needed to go to the bathroom Han?"

"Whatever."

Emily and I laughed out loud at her pouting and continued our previous discussion with Aria.

"Look! There he is the liar!" Hanna chimed after a few moments.

We turned to look toward the front of the show room, where Lewis was in fact standing, having a discussion with a well-dressed man, who nodded and then began to walk away.

"Ladies and gentlemen may I have your attention please. Our final speech this evening will be given by the person who made everything you see around you a possibility." I looked up to see the well-dressed man at the microphone giving yet another introduction.

"Please put your hands together for the director of this fine exhibition, our very own, Mr. Lewis Duncan."

My eyes went wide. Aria's jaw dropped. Emily was choking on her drink. And Hanna just looked like she was plotting to go fishing and make sure she caught him.

I only caught half of what Lewis was saying, since I was in shock, but it was something along the lines of him remembering being part of the student show during his own days at the University, that it was the reason he came back, and that he was so proud of all the students.

When he was finished speaking, he made his way towards us and he smiled at our clearly still surprised expressions.

"I take it none of you had any idea then." He grinned.

"I can't believe it why didn't you tell me?" Aria asked.

"I don't know, I just didn't think it was important."

"Of course it is!" she scoffed. She smiled widely and pulled him into a hug, congratulating him.

Emily and I shook his hand and then Hanna kissed him. Which he reciprocated.

"Uh, thanks." He said after pulling away, grinning widely.

"I better get going, but enjoy the rest of the show, and it was an absolute pleasure meeting you all." He said to us, then turned to Aria, "Good luck with everything Ms. Montgomery, I hope to meet you again in the future."

"Thank you for everything Lewis, I'm sure we'll see each other again."

He smiled and nodded, and with that he was gone.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:**

**Here's the next chapter for you guys.**

**I hope you like this one, I watched The Notebook and made myself a playlist of love/heartbreak songs to listen to while I was writing this so that I could get into a good mindset to inspire me.**

**Let me know if it worked yeah? ****I hope you guys like this chapter.**

**Read, Enjoy, Review.**

The next day was going to be a busy one. After the exhibit we had a night in with room service per Hanna's request and got some rest to prepare for the next day.

"So, we're going to Camden Market for the day and then King's Cross Station?" Emily asked.

"Why are we going to a station?" Hanna inquired.

"Hanna have you ever heard of Platform 9 and ¾?"

"From that Harry Potter movie? What about it?"

"King's Cross station is where they filmed it." Emily said.

"Actually, it was filmed in Pancras, which is beside the station." I said.

"Okay you big know-it-all." Emily said rolling her eyes sarcastically, her sarcasm taking me by surprise.

"Dude… what's with the harsh attitude?"

"Sorry…" she smiled apologetically.

"Never mind, we better get going."

As we all exited the hotel Emily and Aria walked ahead while I hung back to talk to Hanna.

"Hey Han can I ask you something?"

"Sure what's up?"

"Listen, it's our last night here and I was wondering if it's okay if I take Aria out just the two of us tonight, we haven't really had any alone time since we got here."

"Of course Spence, what were you thinking?"

"Just dinner and a walk in the park."

"Awh that's cute, well I'll tell Emily, we can grab something in the hotel and then I can try and get details out of her about her night with Chloe." Hanna said with a mischievous grin.

"Ha, thanks Han, but hey go easy on her okay, you know she's not the most comfortable with discussing her sex life."

"I'll be gentle I promise." She winked.

"Hey you two come on, let's go." Emily yelled as she walked back towards us, they had obviously gotten a lot further without us noticing.

"Be there in a minute Em." Hanna yelled back.

"Okay, let's go."

-XXXX-

When we reached Camden market Aria's eyes lit up. She was like a kid in a candy store. The stalls of trinkets and jewellery were endless as well as many clothing and fresh food stalls.

Aria wandered through each of them and I watched her closely as she inspected all of the beautiful homemade pieces of jewellery on sale.

"Spence, what do you think of this one?" she asked as she held it up to her neck.

The necklace part was intricately woven pieces of brightly coloured fabric with another, looser thick black strand of fabric which hung diagonally and connected back to the main necklace with small moonstones hanging from it.

"It's beautiful… Why don't you buy it?"

"It's $90."

"What?!" I squeaked.

"All of these are homemade and they're eco-friendly materials. It's expensive and labour intensive to make these." She explained.

"Oh, of course."

She smiled at me and kissed my cheek.

I followed her out of the stall and we made our way toward Hanna and Emily who were sitting down eating lunch.

"Guys, why didn't you tell us you were buying lunch?"

"We were hungry, and we couldn't find you guys."

"Wait here and we'll go get something, you coming Spence?"

"Would you mind just buying me a sandwich? I have to go to the bathroom."

"Okay, don't go too far though." She said in a stern tone of voice

"I won't mom, I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

"Hurry back!" she wandered off in search of food and I turned in the other direction.

-XXXX-

After lunch, we hopped on a train and made our way to King's Cross Station (or rather Pancras) to see what all the fuss was about.

I had Googled it and found out that there was in fact a man-made Platform 9 and ¾ where you could get pictures taken, and there was also a Harry Potter gift shop.

We waited in the queue to get our pictures taken, where I wrapped my arms around Aria's waist from behind after noticing her shivering, earning myself a giggle and a kiss.

"Ugh, guys please stop with the cuteness you're gonna make me vomit." Hanna said.

"Nice Han." I said shaking my head.

"Come on guys, we're next!" Emily said excitedly.

We stood at the trolley and got into our positions, we had already decided what we wanted to do beforehand, since we found out that one picture costs £10 and we wanted to be in one together.

Aria put her hands on the bar and held on, as I wrapped my arms under her stomach and lifted her, making it possible for Hanna and Emily to grab onto her legs and hold her in place. Once she was steady, I moved downward slightly, to hold onto her waist/thigh area. We put on scared expressions to make the picture complete.

When it printed out it was perfect. It looked like Aria was being sucked through and Hanna Emily and I were trying to pull her back. Aria giggled at my side when she looked at the picture.

I put the picture into my bag and we made our way inside the gift store. After about 5 minutes we left.

"Are they actually serious? Is there anything cheaper than £40 in there?" Hanna yelled, very unimpressed by the ridiculously sky high prices of everything on sale.

"I'm telling you I'm going onto Ebay later and I guarantee I can get all of that stuff for less than half the price they're charging." She said, clearly very annoyed.

"Forget about it Han, you don't even like Harry potter" Aria said, slightly bemused.

"That's not the point, it's the principle!"

"Alright, do what you gotta do…"

"I will!"

-XXXX-

We got back to the hotel some time later, all the while listening to Hanna's rant about the ridiculous prices.

I was showered and ready to leave and make our way out to begin the evening I had planned, I was now sitting on the couch in our room waiting for Aria to finish doing her hair and get dressed.

"Hey Spence, do you wanna go and see if the girls are ready?"

"They don't need to be ready." I said smiling in the mirror at her, receiving a confused look.

"What? But we're going out to dinner? We'll never get anything to eat if we don't leave soon."

"We will be leaving soon, because WE'RE going out to dinner."

"You mean, just you and me?" she said, her smile growing larger.

"Yep." I smirked at her.

She put her hair straightener down on the floor, got up from her seated position on the floor and moved over to where I was seated. She straddled my thighs and her lips immediately found mine. She used the fact that she was only clad in underwear to her advantage as she pulled away and stared down at me, biting her lip before running a hand through her down then moving her fingers down from her cheek to her neck, over her breasts and across her abdomen, forcing my gaze to follow and take the perfect figure sitting on top of me.

She leaned back in, but instead of resuming our kiss she dragged her lips to my ear.

"We should go…" she whispered, and before I could respond she was gone.

After I pulled myself (back) together and after Aria finished getting ready, we made our way out of the hotel and to the restaurant I had made a reservation at earlier that day.

I held the door open for Aria to walk through and I followed after she was inside, we walked up to the host at the front door.

"Good evening ladies, do you have a reservation?" the man asked politely with a smile.

"Yes, it's Hastings for 2."

"Perfect, if you'd like to follow me I will show you to your table."

We followed him swiftly inside the restaurant and were shown to our table.

"Have a wonderful evening."

"Thank you." I pulled the seat out for Aria and took up the seat across from her.

After our waiter took our drink and food orders, Aria smiled at me and tilted her head before she spoke.

"Why didn't you tell me it would be just us tonight?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise..." I looked at her and smiled, slowly I moved my hand across the table and took hers in mine, running my thumb across the back of her hand before I continued, "We're leaving tomorrow, and we haven't had any proper time just the two of us. I wanted to spend our last night here with you and only you."

"If you wanted us to spend more time alone together while we were here why didn't you say so?"

"Because it wasn't just a trip for us, it was for Hanna and Emily too. I love them both and I wanted us all to have a good time, I didn't wanna ditch them or take you away from either."

"Spence, we all know you're a good friend, the girls would have understood if you told them you wanted us to do something, just the two of us." She smiled.

"I know they would have, I just didn't want to ask them to give up something from their trip just for us, you know?"

"I know. But hey, we're here now, alone, so let's enjoy it." She said squeezing my hand in hers and giving me a tight smile.

-XXXX-

After dinner, I took Aria for a walk through Hyde Park, which was just a few minutes from our hotel.

I noticed her shiver and I quickly took my blazer and placed it around her shoulders; she turned towards me and kissed my cheek lightly before she took my hand and interlinked our fingers and we walked through the park.

We walked for a while, in a comfortable silence enjoying the beautiful park before we stopped at the lake located in the centre of the gardens and took a seat on a nearby bench.

Aria sat beside me and leant in close, capturing my lips in a passionate kiss, before she moved her head to rest on my shoulder, and she held onto me tightly sighing contently in the process.

"I wish we could stay like this." She whispered.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I pulled her chin up, so that we were looking into each other's eyes.

"I just wish that nothing had to change. I wish that we could just stay here together, forever. I wish that we didn't have to go to different colleges. And I wish that I didn't have to apart from you. I just wish that time would stop, and that things wouldn't have to get so complicated." Even in the darkness the moonlight shone on her face and glistened with the tears rolling down her cheeks. My heart was breaking seeing her with tears in her eyes at the thought of us not being together every day.

"Aria. I wish those things too. I want us to be together, all the time but when the time comes for us to go to college, we're going to have to be apart. I don't want to be 130 miles away from you but we have to live our lives. You want to be at Yale and you want to follow your dreams, and I want to be at Princeton. I want us to be together too, but even more than that, I want you to be happy. Art makes you happy and going to Yale will make you happy. When you're happy, I'm happy and that's all that counts. It's only as complicated as we make it, and we can make it simple. It doesn't have to be hard; we just have to do everything we can to be there for each other. I love you and nothing will change that, ever. I'll do anything to make you happy, anything at all."

She threw her arms around my neck and pulled me into her, hugging me tightly. "Don't let go…" she whispered.

"Never."

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but eventually the cool night air began to take its toll and we had to get some circulation back. I pulled back slightly and held her face.

"I love you, Aria. Please don't ever forget that."

"I love you too Spence. I know I'm being crazy, I just don't know what I'm gonna do without you." She said, laughing slightly.

"You're gonna meet some great people, and make awesome new friends who are as amazing and talented as you are, and then you're gonna call me and tell me how happy you are."

"What did I do to deserve you?" she asked.

"Nothing, all you had to do was be you."

She snuggled into my side and linked our arms together as we began to walk back to the hotel.

-XXXX-

We made it back to the hotel a short while later and I went to take out a pair of shorts and a top to sleep in but Aria quickly stopped me and took my hand, guided me towards the bed and put her hands on my shoulders, effectively making me sit down on the edge.

"Aria…" I began but I was cut off when she pressed a finger to my lips.

She didn't say anything, she only moved her hand behind her back and unzipped her dress, letting it fall to the floor before stepping out of it and kicking it to the other side of the room with her foot. It was all I could do not to reach out and touch her smooth skin as she stood in front of me in only a bra and panties.

A breath caught in my throat when she unclasped her bra and threw it across the room, and I gasped audibly when she slipped off her panties. She moved closer to me and placed a chaste kiss on my lips before she took my hands and pulled me to my feet.

She placed light kisses over my neck and chest as she held my hands by my waist, not allowing me to touch her. She moved a hand and began the same treatment on me as she had done for herself just moments before, by unzipping my dress and slowly undressing me the rest of the way, leaving kisses all over my body. The cold air that had taken over my body while we were outside had quickly dissipated after Aria bathed me in heat with her kisses.

She looked into my eyes before she licked her lips and moved to sit on the bed, I followed quickly and leaned in to kiss her, she pulled back slightly and moved backwards to lay down on the bed, making me crawl up the bed after her and I lay down between her legs while I propped myself up on my elbows and looked down at her, her face was flushed and her chest was moving rapidly. She moved a strand of hair from my face and pushed it behind my ear.

"Make love to me Spence…" she whispered through laboured breaths.

I didn't wait a second longer before I pressed my lips to her. I felt her hands move to my hair and she held on tightly as she kissed me hungrily. I moved my lips from hers and moved to kiss her neck.

I ran my hands along the length of her body as I turned my attention to her breasts. I ran my fingers over her now hardened nipples lightly before alternately nipping at them gently with my teeth and then running my tongue soothingly over them.

After a few minutes I moved to kiss and bite the soft skin of her abdomen, running my tongue downwards slowly, teasingly and she arched her back into ever swipe of my tongue over her soft skin. I slid back up her body and looked into her eyes, which were now clouded with arousal.

"Spence… please…" she pleaded, and I gave in.

I slipped my hand from her side, down her abdomen and over her thigh.

"I love you Aria." I whispered.

"I love you too."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and slid my hand further down. I ran my fingers through her now very wet folds, earning a loud gasp from her. She writhed into my touch as I continued stroking her wet centre. I slowly slipped two fingers inside her as I pressed my thumb into her clit.

"Spencer…" she moaned, slipping her hands up my back to hold onto my shoulders tightly. She pulled me down so that our bodies were centimetres apart, and I buried my face in her neck while she continued to moan in my ear.

Her hips began thrusting to meet my strokes and she dug her nails into my back, trying to catch her breath as our sweat soaked bodies slid against one another.

"Spence… harder… please…" she moaned and I quickly obliged after feeling her tighten around my fingers and wanting to push her over the edge.

I moved back slightly and looked at her, she had her eyes closed.

"Aria, look at me." I whispered, she slowly opened her eyes and they found mine instantly.

I quickened my pace and rubbed her clit with my thumb, keeping a steady rhythm as we stared into each other's eyes, and soon she came undone.

"Oh god, Spencer!" she moaned loudly and held onto me tightly. I kept my pace up to help her ride out her orgasm and slowly slid my fingers from her when she came down, she moaned lightly when I did.

I lay back and tried to catch my breath but as soon as I did Aria was on me. She straddled my waist and attacked my lips, sucking and biting them before she moved down my body swiftly, leaving wet kisses all over my abdomen.

I didn't have time to be teased or to plead because her mouth was on me straight away.

"Oh fuck!" the words passed my lips before I had a second thought and I looked down at Aria as a smirk tugged at her lips and she moved her tongue up and down along my wetness. I let my head fall back against the pillows and closed my eyes tightly, taking in each movement of her wet tongue against my centre.

"Aria…" I moaned as she sucked on my clit, harder and faster with each swipe of her tongue, pushing me closer to where I so desperately wanted to be at this moment. When she slipped her fingers inside me and curled them, the all too familiar warmth in the pit of my stomach washed over my whole body before I had even realised what had happened and Aria held onto me tightly as my body shuddered.

I kept my eyes shut, unsure whether I would be able to open them or not. I felt Aria moving to lie next to me, and she gently kissed my lips before resting her head on my heaving chest.

"Woah…" I said finally.

"I know…" she said, laughing softly.

"You're amazing, I love you so much." I whispered.

"I love you too baby." She kissed my jaw and my neck softly and after that I can't remember anything but the feeling of sleep pulling me under.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:**

**This is not the most eventful chapter I've ever written.**

**Or the longest chapter I've ever written.**

**Or even the least bit well put together chapter I've ever written.**

**But it's a chapter nonetheless. It's served it's purpose as being a filler chapter since that's all I needed it to be.**

**The next chapter will (hopefully) be longer, and a bit more eventful but for this I just needed to get them from London back to Rosewood as quickly as possible.**

**Sorry for the mistakes etc. I wrote this in one sitting and can't be bothered with it.**

**What? I'm having a very lazy day, so sue me.**

**Disclaimer: Please don't sue me, I can't afford it.**

**Read, Enjoy, Review.**

We woke up early the next day to pack and get our things ready for our trip home that evening. We decided to have brunch in Hyde Park before we would go back to the hotel, grab our things and make our way to the airport.

After buying some food we made our way to find somewhere to sit down and eat.

"So guys, did you two have a good night together?" Hanna asked as we finally found a bench, before very unsubtly winking at me.

"It was perfect." Aria said smiling widely and never taking her eyes off me.

"Awh, you guys are so cute."

"I can't believe I'm the only one who didn't get any action on this trip." Hanna said shaking her head and throwing her arms in the air.

Aria laughed. Emily blushed.

"Yeah I'm surprised too." I agreed.

"Hey! What the hell, you think I'm a slut or something Spence?" She retorted.

"WHAT? But you just said! Oh forget it…"

"So you weren't able to work your charm on Lewis then?" Aria asked, nudging Hanna in the shoulder.

"I was not. I think that Charlotte chick would have killed me in my sleep if I had, she was giving me daggers all night when I was with him. I wouldn't have minded brining him home though…" Hanna said smiling.

"You know he's quite a bit older than you Han?" I asked.

"Yes, but age is only a number. Wait, isn't that him over there?" Hanna asked with a shocked look on her face.

Low and behold she was right; there he was sitting a few benches over with headphones in his ears and a book in his hand.

"Oh my god, it's fate!" Hanna said as she got to her feet excitedly.

"Hanna! I want to go thank him for the tickets; you'll scare him away so stay here." Aria said reasonably, also getting to her feet.

"But!"

"I'll put in a good word for you okay?"

"Fine…"

-XXXX-

**Aria's POV**

I began walking toward the bench where Lewis sat, as I got closer he looked up slightly and I caught his eye. As soon as he saw me he smiled widely and took out his headphones and put his book down on the bench. I came to a stop and stood a few feet away from him before he greeted me.

"Ms. Montgomery, what a nice surprise." He smiled.

"Hi Lewis, it's nice to see you. We were sitting over there and Hanna saw you so I thought I would come over and say hi."

"Please sit down..." he offered, and I accepted, setting my bag down beside me. "It's nice to see you too, did you enjoy the show? Sorry I had to run off so quickly."

"Oh that's no problem we understood I mean you were the director after all. Nice surprise on that one, by the way. It was fantastic I was so impressed with everything. We all were, even Hanna. And she doesn't like art." He laughed loudly.

"Ah yes, I do hope she's not angry with me for not being able to chat with her throughout the night, but I had to do the rounds and speak to the curator's. Art shows are fun for everyone who isn't organising them. I did quite like her though, I just wish I got to talk to her more."

"She liked you a lot too… I can't believe I'm saying this but I could give you her phone number if you'd like?"

"Really she did? Yeah that would be great. I hope you don't think I'm some sort of weird creep because I'm older than you guys…" He trailed.

"No, not at all, I thought you were my age when we first met."

"Really? Now that is a compliment." He laughed. "So what brings you here today if you don't mind me asking?"

"We're having an early lunch and then we have to go to the airport to go home. I'm gonna miss this place I've had such an awesome time."

"Ouch, long flight?"

"Yeah, 8 hours. But we have 3 hours to wait in the airport first, then the 8 hour flight and then an hours' drive from the airport back to Rosewood."

"Looks like you have a long day ahead."

"We sure do. Listen I better get back, it was so nice to see you."

"It was nice to see you too. And it was nice to meet you; you're a pretty incredible person." He said smiling. "If you're ever in London again, look me up okay? Have a safe trip home." He shook my hand and smiled.

"I will. Thanks again for everything. And hey, use that number okay she'll be angry with me if you don't."

"I'll be sure too, goodbye Aria." He laughed

"Bye Lewis."

I turned away and started walking back toward my friends.

-XXXX-

**Spencer's POV**

I saw Aria shake hands with Lewis before she started to make her way back over to us.

"Well, what did you say?" Hanna asked immediately before Aria had even sat back down.

"I said that you liked him, he liked you too and I gave him your number." She said beaming.

"REALLY! That's awesome! Thanks Ar you're the best!" Hanna said jumping on top of Aria and hugging her.

"Okay guys, come on we better go get our things and go to the airport. Hanna, you can molest my girlfriend later but right now we gotta go."

We quickly made our way back to the hotel to collect our things from the luggage area and made our way to the station.

We got off the train at Heathrow and checked in, sending our bags to be loaded onto the plane and then we went through security, deciding it would be best to get through the crowds as quickly as possible and be able to get on the plane when it arrived.

A couple of hours later, after boarding and putting our hand luggage away we were preparing to take off and Aria didn't seem nearly as frightened as she had on the flight here.

"Hey, Spence?"

"Yeah babe?"

"I'm so glad we went on this trip. I had so much fun. And I know the girls did too. Thanks for keeping us all sane."

"It was great wasn't it? I'm so glad I got to come here, it's a pretty amazing place."

"I know, I'm kind of looking forward to going home though, having dates and more time alone together."

"Yeah, me too."

We took off a short while later and all I remember is telling Aria I loved her before I fell fast asleep.

-XXXX-

Our flight was pretty uneventful, each of us slept through most of it and Aria and I cuddled up under a blanket and watched a movie. We were back on home soil and after collecting our luggage we went straight to the car and piled everything in, each of us wanting to get home as quickly as possible.

I dropped both Hanna and Emily home, helping them carry their luggage inside and hugging them goodbye. Soon I arrived at Aria's house and I pulled up and parked outside the driveway.

"So are you sure you can't stay over tonight?" I asked, pouting.

"No, I should probably be home, I haven't seen my mom or dad in a week I think they'll want to spend some time with me and grill me about everything we did."

"Okay… You're gonna come over tomorrow though right?"

"Of course, I can't stay away from you for that long." She smiled. "Thank you for making this trip so amazing for me. I love you so much."

"I love you too." I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers, we stayed kissing for a few minutes before she reluctantly pulled back.

"I better go."

"Okay, I'll get your bag."

I got out of the car and opened the back to take Aria's suitcase out and bring it to the door for her. I put the case down on the front porch in front of the door and pulled her into another kiss, holding her tightly.

"I love you."

"I love you too Spence, I'll see you tomorrow."

With that she opened the door and made her way inside.

I got back into my car and drive the rest of the way home. I tugged my own case inside and brought it upstairs, leaving it to be emptied tomorrow, because right now all I wanted to do was fall into bed and not get up until tomorrow when I could see Aria again.

And that's exactly what I did.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:**

**Okay guys, next chapter has arrived.**

**Someone requested Hannily in a review on the last chapter, and I'm sorry to say that there won't be any in this chapter, maybe not for a while either but I will try to incorporate some in a chapter in the future. **

**This is a Sparia story and at the end of the day, it's about them. There isn't gonna be an abundance of other pairings here. Sorry! :/**

**Up until now this story has been pretty fluffy, but this story is about to get heavy, ****I hope you're ready for it.**

**Read, Enjoy, and please Review if you can.**

_**A week later**_

After a very exhausting week back to school, the girls and I were almost settled back in to our normal routines. Meaning I wasn't waking up at 3am and not being able to get back to sleep anymore.

Our weekend was almost over and Monday was rolling around to quickly so we decided to go to Apple Rose, get some coffee and catch up since we hadn't been able to spend that much time together this week.

"Hey Ar you want a scone?" I asked standing up to go and order for us.

"Yes please, raspberry and…"

"White chocolate, I know." I cut her off.

"Thanks Spence."

After buying 4 coffees and a scone I returned to the table.

"So what have you guys been up to? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." Aria asked when I got back to the table, giving me a wide grin when I handed her a coffee and her scone.

"I've been swimming pretty much every day after school; we have a big meet next week that I'm trying to prepare for."

"I've been texting Lewis all week…" Hanna said shyly.

"You have?! That's great!" Aria said excitedly.

"Yep. He's amazing. He's so sweet and so mature. It's like when I'm not talking to him I miss him so much, you know?" she said happily.

"Awh Han, you really like him don't you?"

"I really do… it just sucks that he lives so far away. He said he wants to come visit though, he told me he's always wanted to come here."

"I'm sure he will Han, and you guys could spend some time together, it would be great."

"So what about you guys?"

"I've just been trying to paint and sketch some more pieces in case I need to add them to my portfolio for Yale."

"What about you Spence?" Emily asked taking a sip of her coffee.

"Not a lot really, just doing homework, going to the gym and stuff. Trying to keep myself occupied so I'm not just sitting around waiting for acceptance/rejection letters from colleges."

"Spence, you need to get out more. And anyway, I wouldn't worry you know you're gonna get into everywhere you applied." Hanna laughed.

"Well I would but you see my best friends and my girlfriend have been busy this week so I had no one to spend time with or 'get out' with. I'm still allowed to worry, and there is a chance I won't get in." I smirked.

"Well, we will all be a lot more available this week so you can have a life." Aria said cheekily. "And we're all in the same situation; we don't know what's gonna happen when we get those letters." She explained calmly, but then she was a shoe in for Yale so she had no reason to worry.

"I guess I'm just really anxious."

"You'll see, they'll all be fighting over you and all you have to do is sit back and relax." Aria said smiling and kissing my cheek before taking my hand and squeezing it.

After a couple of hours of us catching up and gossiping it was getting late so we decided to say goodnight.

"See you guys tomorrow." Hanna said, both her and Emily hugging Aria and I goodbye.

"Bye guys."

"And then there were two." Aria said as she interlaced our fingers.

"Come on shortie, I'll take you home."

I clicked the unlock button on my car keys before opening the passenger door for Aria to get in and then getting into the driver's seat to take us home. I arrived at Aria's house shortly after and kissed her goodnight before driving the short distance to my own house.

I pulled into the driveway and grabbed my bag from the back seat, before going inside and getting changed and ready for bed. I sent Aria a quick "I love you" before I fell into bed and tried to mentally prepare myself for the week of school ahead.

-XXXX-

The next day I woke up late and had to run around my house trying to get ready. I ran out the door and grabbed a pastry from the kitchen island on my way.

I drove as quickly (and carefully) as was physically possible for me to do and arrived just before class was about to start. I ran to my locker to grab my things as quickly as possible because I was so close to being late, and I found Aria standing there with all the books I needed for my first few classes in her arms. She raised her eyebrows and handed me the books.

"You're a life saver, I love you!" I placed a chaste kiss on her lips and ran to class as quickly as possible.

After a hectic morning I was finally able to take a breath at lunch with my 3 best friends.

"So Spence any idea if your acceptance letter came today?" Hanna asked as I sat down.

"It might not be an acceptance letter and no, I have no idea."

"Don't worry babe, I'm sure it'll be a huge envelope for every college you applied to." Aria said smiling and squeezing my hand tightly.

"What about you guys?" I asked.

"Nothing for me yet." Emily said.

"I didn't want to say anything yet, but I got mine a few days ago..." Hanna said smiling widely, "I got in to fashion college!" she said grinning.

"Oh my god Hanna that's amazing congratulations! Why didn't you tell us as soon as you heard?!" I yelped.

"I just didn't want to be so happy around you guys if we weren't all going where we wanted, but I can't keep secrets clearly!"

Aria and I ran around the table and joined Emily in group hugging Hanna.

"That's so great, I'm so proud of you Han." Emily said.

"We all are, you're gonna do so great there." Aria squeaked excitedly as we gave her one final squeeze.

-XXXX-

The rest of the day had been very uneventful, after Hanna's news I couldn't concentrate, I was so happy for her but it also reminded me how nervous I was to get my own reply from Princeton.

After I grabbed all my books for the night I made my way home quickly, I wanted to get all my homework done as fast as possible because Aria and I had a movie date in her house tonight and I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could, while I could.

I pulled up in my drive and grabbed my bag from the backseat and made my way inside. I placed my books on the kitchen island and went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. I turned around and jumped out of my skin when I saw both my parents sitting in the living room looking at me.

"Jesus" You guys scared me to death! What are you doing home?" I asked incredulous.

"We're sorry sweetheart. Things at the office were slow and we decided to take a half day, and when we got home…" my mom trailed, looking at my father and smiling.

"What? What happened when you got home?"

"We found this at the front door…" slowly my mom reached over to the coffee table and picked up a large white envelope.

I recognised the orange and black shield immediately, and once I did my heart started pounding. I walked over to where my parents were seated and took the envelope from her. I took a deep breath and began to open the top part where the envelope had been sealed.

Slowly I pulled the piece of paper from the envelope and started to read the contents of the sheet in front of me.

"Go on, what does it say Spencer?" my dad encouraged.

"Dear Ms Hastings, we are delighted to inform you that you have been accepted into the pre-law undergraduate programme at Princeton University…" I read aloud.

My head was spinning wildly and the last thing I remember seeing was my parents hugging and jumping up and down before the blackness dragged me under.

-XXXX-

"Spencer? Spencer honey, wake up, are you okay?"

"Whu… wha… where?" I mumbled.

"Spencer, honey, you 're at home with your family, you fainted."

"I… wait… Princeton?" I asked as my mind came back to me.

"That's right, you're going to Princeton. You got accepted to Princeton." My dad said happily.

"I got into Princeton?" I got into Princeton… I'm going to Princeton.

Suddenly a burst of energy and emotion shot through me and I jumped to my feet.

"Oh my god! I'm going to Princeton!" I yelped loudly and ran into my dad's arms.

He picked me up and hugged me tightly before putting me down, and I was quickly engulfed into a group hug by my mom, much like the one in which I had partaken in earlier in the cafeteria with my best friends, except I now knew what it was like to be on the receiving end. And it felt great.

"I love you guys so much. Thank you for your support, it means so much to me. Not just with Princeton, but with Aria… and with every decision I've ever had to make. You've always been there cheering me on. I wouldn't be here in this position if it wasn't for you guys."

"We love you too Spencer. Speaking of Aria, go and tell her the good news!"

"Right! I'm going to her house tonight, I'll go and get changed and then head over there now."

I hugged my parents tightly before going upstairs to change and go and share my good news with the most important person in my life.

-XXXX-

I quickly texted Aria to tell her I would be over soon before I threw my clothes in the wash basket and decided on something to wear for tonight. I went with tight black skinny jeans and a long, blue vest top. I grabbed a light cardigan from a hanger and went to grab my keys and wallet from my bed. I picked up my phone to slip it in my pocket.

Aria hadn't replied. That was weird. 6pm. I guess I was going to be a little early, she probably had to run and get a quick shower before I got there.

I said quick goodbyes to my parents and made my way outside to my car. I drove for a few minutes before pulling up outside the Montgomery house. I got out and locked my car behind me, feeling nervous and excited to tell Aria about my acceptance.

I got to the door, took a deep breath and knocked three times. I waited for a few moments before the door was opened agitatedly by a frantic looking Ella Montgomery.

"Hi Mrs. Montgomery."

"Spencer! Thank goodness you're here! Where did you find her?" she asked desperately.

"Find who? What's going on?" I asked confused.

"Spencer, Aria's missing!" Ella said sadly, with tears forming in her eyes.

"What? What do you mean she's missing? What happened?" I yelled.

"A letter came for her. From Yale…" she trailed and took a breath, composing herself, "she didn't get in Spencer."

The penny dropped and I dropped too, straight to the floor.

"I… But… How? She's the perfect candidate."

"I don't know Spencer, she read the letter and she ran out of here without saying anything, I tried to call her but she left her phone and I have no idea where she went. She's been gone for almost 3 hours it's getting dark out, I'm worried sick about her!" Ella sobbed, tears flowing freely now as she fell on the couch and held her head in her hands.

I sat beside her and took her hands in mine.

"Mrs. Montgomery, everything is going to be fine. I'm going to find her, and I'm going to bring her back here okay?"

"How will you find her? How will you know where she is?" Ella asked as I stood up and made my way toward the door, I stopped and turned halfway around to look at her.

"She's my best friend. She's my girlfriend. And she's the love of my life. I'll find her." And with that, I ran through the front door, got in my car and started driving. I knew exactly where she was.

-XXXX-

After driving into town, I stopped abruptly outside the entrance to the park. I locked my car and began walking through the empty plains of grass. It was crazy to think that it had only been a month or so since Aria and I were here, celebrating our anniversary. Which is why I had a hunch that this is where she would be, going back to a moment when all of us were together and things were the same as they had always been.

I walked through the large mass of trees to the opening by the lake where my planning and preparation had led her on that day. As I expected, she was sat on the grass in front of the lake as it glistened in the moonlight.

I sighed and walked over to her slowly. I dropped to my knees behind her and slid my arms around her waist, pulling her back to me and rested my head on her shoulder from behind, nuzzling my face into her neck and squeezing her tight to me, making sure she knew that I wouldn't let her go. I would never let her go.

"Spence…" she sobbed, shaking in my arms.

"I know… I know…" I whispered.

She didn't say another word after that. She just lay back in my arms and cried, and I held her there, letting her cry as much as she needed to.

After a couple of hours, she eventually pulled back and turned to face me. Even though her eyes were red and puffy and her face was streaked with different tints of red, she still took my breath away, and my heart broke into pieces when I realised I had never seen her look so broken, so defeated. Finally she spoke,

"Spence… what am I gonna do…." She asked, her lip trembling and fresh tears spilling from her eyes.

"Baby, come here…" I pulled her into another embrace and held her against my chest, "We don't have to think about that right now. Your mom is worried sick about you, let's just get you home and we can talk about everything tomorrow."

She didn't say anything, she just nodded into my chest and I held her close as I stood up slowly, taking her with me. I held her in my arms as we walked to the car and I sat her down in the passenger seat and put her seat belt across her body, clicking it into place before getting into the driver's seat and turning the key in the ignition. I took her hand in mine and squeezed tightly, never letting go for the entire journey back to the Montgomery's house.

I took her hand when we had gotten out of the car and brought her inside. Ella met me at the door and hugged her tightly before bringing her upstairs.

I sat in the living room and put my head in my hands. Ella came down the stairs a short while later and sat beside me.

"I think you should stay here tonight, she needs you."

"Are you sure? I don't want to put you out Mrs. Montgomery." I said.

"You'd be putting me out by not staying. She loves you and she needs you more than anyone right now."

"Of course, I'd do anything for Aria."

"I know sweetheart I'll call your parents and let them know." Ella stood up and began walking towards the kitchen "Oh and Spencer…"

"Yes Mrs. Montgomery?" I asked standing up.

"Thank you for bringing her home." She smiled at me weakly and disappeared into the kitchen.

I made my way upstairs and knocked on Aria's door, before slowly opening the door and peaking inside into the darkness. From what I could make out Aria was in her bed, under the covers and laying on her side, staring into black space.

I walked over to her and took off my jeans before climbing in bed next to her. I pulled her into me and slid my arms around her waist, kissing her cheek softly.

"I love you Spencer." She said faintly.

"I love you so much, and you're gonna get through this, WE'RE gonna get through this. I promise." I whispered.

I didn't know what was going to happen in the next few months, and I didn't know how we would get through it. All I knew was that Aria needed me, and no matter what, I would be there for her.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:**

**Just wanted to let you guys know that this chapter as well as the next few will just be fillers, I'm trying to get to a particular point in this story so just bare with me :)**

**On the upside that probably means more frequent chapters until I get there. I already have the next one pretty much done, but I won't be able to post it for a few days because of work and such.**

**So I hope this short update is enough to keep you guys going.**

**Happy weekend :)**

**Read, Enjoy, Review.**

Nearly a week had passed since Aria had gotten her rejection letter from Yale. I spent every day after school at her house; she hadn't been able to get out of bed to go to school. I would just sit with her and hold her. She had barely eaten anything and she had barely said anything at all.

She had been in a daze for a week and it was time to start doing something about it, so Hanna Emily and I were going over to the Montgomery's to talk to Aria about her options.

"Remember guys, we have to be supportive, whatever she wants to do or wherever she wants to go we have to respect it." I said to Hanna and Emily as we walked up the steps to the front door.

"Of course, we just wanna be there for her." Hanna said.

I knocked on the front door and was greeted by an exhausted looking Ella Montgomery.

"Hi girls, come in, she's in her room." She said sadly.

Hanna and Emily walked up the stairs toward Aria's room while I stayed behind to talk to Mrs. Montgomery.

"How is she today?" I asked.

"Pretty much the same, she's eaten a bit more today which is good."

"Well, we're gonna talk to her about what she wants to do now. We know she's still hurting but if we're going to get her into something we have to do it now before it's too late."

"That's great, I just hope she's willing to listen and at least try. Thank you for everything you've done this week Spencer, I don't know what I would have done if she didn't have you." She gave me a weak smile, and I pulled her into a tight hug.

"We're family, and family are there for each other when things get hard."

I gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand tightly before following the girls upstairs and into Aria's room. When I walked through the door she gave me an attempted smile.

"Hey Ar, how are you feeling?" I sat down next to her and kissed her forehead.

"Okay I guess… better now that you guys are here…" she said taking my hand in her free one, her other already in Hanna's.

"Aria, we wanna talk to you about what you wanna do now, after what's happened." I explained carefully.

"There's nothing to do." She said simply.

"Of course there is, we can look at the other college's you've applied to and we can see what else you can do next year." Emily said smiling.

"That's not possible." She whispered.

"What do you mean it's not possible?" I asked confused.

"I… I never applied to any other colleges." Her voice cracked and I watched the tears forming in her eyes.

"You never applied to any other colleges? Aria, why would you only apply to one college?" I asked, Emily looked distraught, Hanna looked like she didn't know what to think.

"Because Yale is all I've ever wanted! I've never wanted to go anywhere else! If they don't want me then I don't want to go to college, there is nowhere else for me! If Yale don't want me then that's the universe telling me that I'm not meant to go to college." The tears spilled over and slid down her cheeks, one at a time. I pulled her into my side and held her tightly.

"It's okay, it's okay." I said stroking her hair and holding her close to me. Hanna and Emily slid in beside us and wrapped their arms around us, sandwiching us in the middle as we held Aria there while she cried.

-XXXX-

Aria had eventually calmed down and fallen asleep, Hanna Emily and I went to sit downstairs and talk about what we could do for her.

"She only applied to one college… I can't believe it." Emily said.

"All the deadlines have been passed, what are we gonna do? She doesn't have anywhere to go? She doesn't have any other options…." I said, panicked.

"There has to be something!" Hanna yelled.

"Han, there isn't anything else. Every application that has been sent out by students has already been answered. All the places have been taken, and there are no other options. All we can hope for is that there might be some classes in Hollis that she can take part-time."

"I'm gonna go and see if there is, and check out other courses that she might be interested in." Hanna said frantically, before grabbing her things and running out the door.

"Spencer, even if she gets something… we're all going to be leaving, and she'll be staying here. Especially you, I mean she doesn't even know you got in... That is going to kill her…"

"I know. But I can't think about that right now. She's so fragile because of this rejection, if I tell her that I've been accepted to Princeton and you're going to Danby… I don't know what it could do to her."

"Let's just focus on making sure she's okay. I'm gonna go and help Hanna see if we can find something. Anything at all." She hugged me and quickly followed after Hanna.

I walked up the stairs to Aria's room. She was still asleep. I walked over to the bed and lay down beside her, careful not to wake her up. I slid in behind her and pulled her gently into my arms.

I don't know how things could get so bad so quickly. A few weeks ago we were in London, we were having the time of our lives and we didn't have anything to worry about. How can things get so messed up that easily?

Aria is the most amazing person I have ever met and she doesn't deserve this to happen to her.

I didn't know how I was going to make this better, or make it go away. I'm the one who always has a solution to the problem, I'm the one who can always fix things and I'm the one Aria depends on the most.

How can I tell her that I'm out of ideas? How can I tell her that there's nothing I can do to help her?

I can't tell her that. And I can't give up. There has to be something. And we can figure it out. Together.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:**

**Next chapter for you guys, another short one so don't get too excited.**

**The next should be longer.**

**Read, Enjoy, Review.**

_**2 weeks later**_

Aria seemed to be getting back to her old self. She had started eating properly again and she had started coming back to school. We had even gone out on a date last weekend. It was the first time she had wanted to spend time with me outside of her house. The next step was getting her to start sketching and painting again. She hadn't done any new pieces since the last one she added to her portfolio for Yale.

May had just begun and the end of the school year and our high school careers was right around the corner. Hanna and Emily had spent so much time trying to find classes and courses that Aria could take over the next year. They were about to give up until Hanna found a visual arts course that was starting in October and ended in April. It seemed perfect for her and after we told her, she seemed excited enough to be taking it.

We all knew that it would never be anything like Yale, and it wouldn't mean that much to her. But even though we knew this deep down, she never let us see that she wasn't totally happy about going to Hollis.

The end of the week rolled around very quickly and we had all made plans to have dinner and catch a movie. We wanted to try and get things back to normal for Aria as fast as possible.

As I got ready to go out to dinner with my friends I heard my phone beep to signal I had a new message. I walked over to my bed and picked up my phone to read it, it was from Hanna.

Hanna: Oh my god! I have such a surprise for you guys tonight! :D :D Hurry up and get here! Xxx

Spencer: Someone's happy :P I'll see you soon, really interested to see what it is. P.S: If it's another picture of a cat hugging a dog I will be very unimpressed. X

I threw my phone back on the bed and finished getting ready. I grabbed my things a few moments later and made my way to Aria's house to pick her up. When I pulled up she was sitting on the porch waiting for me. When she saw my car she lit up and a large smile graced her lips. For those first few days after her letter came, I thought I would never see that smile again. I don't think I'll ever take that smile for granted ever again, and every time she smiles from now on, my response will always be the same.

"You look so beautiful when you smile." I said as she got in the car, and I leaned in to kiss her. She kissed me back passionately before pulling back slightly.

"You say that every time you see me smile."

"I know, I just like seeing you happy." She blushed at this and took my hand in hers as I drove us to the restaurant where we were meeting Hanna and Emily.

-XXXX-

We got to the restaurant a short while later and were led to our table, where Hanna and Emily were already seated.

Hanna had a huge grin on her face and Emily wasn't looking us in the eye when we sat down.

"Okay, what's this surprise you were talking about?" I asked.

"Surprise!"

"OH MY GOD!" Aria yelled jumping up out of her chair and running across to the source of the surprise that had just jumped out from under the table. None other than Mr. Lewis Duncan himself.

"What are you doing here?!"Aria asked as she hugged him.

"Well, Hanna and I have been talking every day for the past month, and I've always wanted to visit the states, and now I have a perfect reason to." He said smiling widely at my blonde-haired friend.

"He said he wanted to come and visit, and today when I got home from school, there he was sitting at my kitchen island having coffee with my mom." Hanna said happily.

"Oh my god I can't believe this." Aria said as she sat down next to me once more.

"That's great Han, I'm so happy for you." I said as Lewis took a seat between Hanna and I.

"It's so nice to see you Spencer." He said.

"You too, how have you been? How's the gallery doing?"

"It's great, we just had our final show of the semester last week so that's it now until the summer showcase at the end of July."

"So you have some time off now?"

"Yep pretty much, I thought what better to spend it than here with Hanna." He took her hand in his and they smiled at each other, Hanna blushed furiously.

"It's so great that you two found each other." Aria said happily.

After we ordered our food we spent most of the evening catching up and getting to know Lewis a little better. He couldn't have had better timing either, because Aria seemed to be back to her normal self when she was talking to him which was great to see.

After dinner, we went to the movies. With a lot of deliberation, Lewis, Emily and I got our way and The Heat was our chosen movie for the night, by a majority vote. Having him around to balance the odds in our favour was pretty great, since Aria and Hanna were always against what Emily and I chose, and we never ended up getting to see what we wanted because I always had to give in to Aria since she was my girlfriend. But now there was no excuse. Moihaha.

The movie went by pretty quickly, the combination of Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy was absolutely hilarious as predicted. And it even made Hanna and Aria laugh. When the movie ended we made our way outside the theatre, where I had to get them to admit they enjoyed it.

"Fine okay, it was hilarious!" Hanna said reluctantly.

"And will you now give our choices a fair chance since you know that we pick good movies?" Emily asked laughing.

"Yes…"

"Good. Now let's go home."

We said our goodbyes to Hanna and Lewis who wanted to walk home-how romantic-and I brought Emily and Aria home.

I was really glad to see the back of the past few weeks. Aria was finally moving past this bad stage and the future was looking bright. I was so excited to graduate and finally start the next chapter of my life.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:**

**Firstly, I'd just like to say that I had this chapter ready to go on Friday but of the course FF was down for repairs. Blah.  
**

**Anyway, here it is and you guys are in for something crazy.**

**I'd like to take this moment to give a shout out to _Lala-Pll-Time _just to say she's the only one who caught on, ya'll should really pay attention to what she says from now on ;P**

**Keep reading, you'll find out what I mean soon enough.**

**I've been waiting to get to this point in the story since I started writing it.**

**Here it goes, please let me know what your opinions of it, i think I deserve it on with this one...**

**Read, Enjoy, Review.**

2 weeks had gone by and Hanna had spent every day of them with Lewis, he even came to school to have lunch with her. He was soon and they were trying to spend as much time together as possible, they only had the next 2 days together and we understood why we weren't seeing that much of Hanna.

I was a little pissed that she had decided to spend ALL of her time with him, but Aria made me see sense when she told me to imagine if that was us not being able to see each other for an unknown amount of time, and the thought of it terrified me, which made me realise I was being an ass and I should accept that once Lewis had gone back to London, we would see more of her. I wanted her to be happy and be able to spend as much time with him as possible, so I let it go. Plus it was nice to see Aria really caring about something again, meaning I could relax a little with my constant worrying whether she was okay or not.

Since Lewis was leaving in 2 days and Hanna wanted to spend all of tomorrow with him alone before he had to go to the airport, Aria and I had planned to go out for dinner tonight with both him and Hanna. I asked Emily but she mumbled something about a wheel and then said she had homework to do.

I was putting the final touches to my outfit when I heard a knock on my door. I turned around to see Aria standing there, looking beautiful as always.

"Hey there hot stuff" I winked as I walked over to her and kissed her softly.

"Hey yourself, are you almost ready to go? The reservation is for 8."

"Yup, let me just grab my stuff." I picked up my bag and threw my phone into it before Aria and I made our way downstairs and out the door.

I drove to the restaurant where we were meeting Hanna and Lewis and pulled up outside. Giving my keys to the valet and taking a ticket. Aria and I made our way inside and quickly spotted Hanna and Lewis sitting at the bar, Hanna caught my eye and excitedly waved us over.

"Hi guys!" she said jumping from her seat and hugging us both, before Lewis followed suit. Over the past couple of weeks we had all grown to love Lewis. I was especially grateful for his presence since he seemed to have a positive effect on Aria, which made it that much easier for her to handle everything that had happened over the past few weeks.

Soon after Aria and I had arrived, we were shown to our table and quickly began to examine our menus. Lewis and I ordered steaks and Hanna and Aria had both gone for pasta dishes.

As we talked over dinner I couldn't help but notice sadness in Hanna's eyes. I could see how much she liked Lewis, and it was pretty obvious that she was going to miss him when he was gone. I made a mental note to talk to her after dinner. The second thing that I noticed was how cute they were together, and how much Lewis seemed to care about her.

After we had finished our food and settled the bill, we decided to go for a walk through the park; it was my idea, since I needed some time to talk to Hanna.

Hanna and Lewis walked through the gates talking quietly and holding hands while Aria and I followed after.

"Hey Ar, I need to talk to Hanna can you keep Lewis company for a few minutes?" I whispered down to her.

"Sure, is everything okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Oh yeah it's fine I just need to ask her something." We quickly caught up with them and I linked my arm with hers.

"Hey Han, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked and she gave me a confused look.

"Can it wait? Lewis and I were in the middle of an important conversation." She pleaded.

"It's okay sweetheart, I actually needed to speak to Aria about something." He said smiling...

"You do?" Aria asked looking confused.

"Okay, just be quick." Hanna reluctantly let go of Lewis' hand and began walking with me.

I turned around and gave Aria a smile, noticing her still confused expression as her and Lewis began walking toward a bench located a few feet away from where we had been moments ago.

"Okay Spence, what's this about?" Hanna asked.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine?"

"It's just you looked a little sad at dinner, I know Lewis is leaving and you guys have been so close the past couple of weeks, I'm just worried about you." I said as we sat down on a bench ourselves. As soon as the words left my mouth she sighed loudly.

"I'm gonna miss him so much Spence, I mean I really like him. When we were talking before I didn't let myself get too involved because I knew what it meant. I knew I would just end up getting hurt, I knew we would never be able to be together properly, we live too far away from each other and we live completely different lives. I've had such an amazing time with him while he's been here but I just don't know what will happen to us when he leaves."

I was expecting tears from my friend right about now, but nothing came. She was upset and I knew she would be because she was going to miss him, but she wasn't crying. At that moment I knew exactly what would happen.

"Hanna, you need to give yourself a lot more credit. Look at you, you're not crying because he's leaving, you're upset but you understand. I know you're gonna miss him, but it's pretty obvious that you two have a really special relationship and even if it doesn't make it romantically, you are such good friends, after only 2 weeks. It's gonna be really hard on you when he leaves, we all knew that, but you'll get through it. You're so much stronger than you think, and I know that everything will work out for you the way it's supposed to."

Without a word, she smiled gratefully at me and pulled me into a tight hug. I rubbed her back soothingly while she spoke.

"Thank you Spencer. I know I give you a hard time but you mean so much to me, you're one of my best friends and I love you."

"I love you too Han, more than you know."

When we pulled back, I seen her shed a tear but she quickly wiped it away. I looked over her shoulder and noticed Aria and Lewis were nowhere in sight.

"Hey, where did Aria and Lewis go?"

-XXXX-

**Aria's POV**

When Spencer looked back at me it was pretty clear that she had no idea why Lewis had wanted to talk to me either, but she smiled her beautiful smile at me anyway.

"Why don't we sit down and talk over there?" I asked as we approached a bench nearby.

"Would you mind if we kept walking? I've just been having some back problems and it helps to walk it off." He smiled tightly at me.

"Okay sure… so, what do you need to talk to me about?"

"Well Hanna told me about what happened with Yale… I didn't want to bring it up before because it was so soon, but I'm leaving so…" he trailed.

"Oh. Um…" I started, unsure of what to say. I didn't like talking about it, and I'm he could tell."

"If you don't want to talk, it's okay. It's just that I have something I want to say about it, so all you have to do is listen." He looked at me, and I nodded for him to continue.

"Listen, I know what it's like to feel rejected, to feel like you don't belong, especially when the only place you feel accepted isn't actually where you fit in. I understand that. But when it comes to doing something you love, the only person or thing standing in your way, telling you that you aren't good enough, is yourself. I know how passionate you are about what you do and I know how much you love it, it was obvious the first day I met you. When I saw you drawing, it was clear to me that it was all you wanted to do. You need to see that Yale isn't everything. Not getting accepted does NOT define you; it's what you do from this point moving forward that defines you. If there is one thing I know for certain when it comes to you and what you love doing, it's that it doesn't matter where you are, as long as you hold onto your passion, everything else will just fall into place."

Maybe it was because he understood what I was going through, or maybe it was because he was outside of the immediate perspective on my life, but he was right. I can't believe I couldn't see all of this before. I was so caught up in Yale I forgot about the art, I forgot about what it meant to me.

"Lewis, you have no idea how much you've opened my eyes. You're completely right, you've given me a totally new outlook on this situation. Thank you." I pulled him close to me and hugged him tightly. I felt him tighten his hold on me and I could feel his lips curving into a smile, understanding that his words were not lost on me and that his message was received loud and clear.

"I'm glad I could help. You're not on your own in this, you've got some pretty great friends and one hell of a girlfriend. And you know you've got me too." He held my shoulders and looked at me when he pulled back from our hug.

"I know. I'm gonna miss you when you leave you know, we all are. It's been great having you here; I just hope it's not too long before you can visit again."

"I've really had a great time with you guys, it's gonna be so boring when I get back to London. And hey, you never know, we might see each other sooner than you'd think." He smiled at me.

"There you guys are!" Hanna yelled, sighing loudly when she caught up with us. "We didn't know where you went!"

Spencer was closely followed by Hanna and they were now making their way toward us. Lewis took Hanna's hand in his when she got close enough and Spencer did the same to me.

"Everything okay?" Spencer asked as she stood by my side.

"Everything is great." I answered honestly, and for the first time in a month I actually meant it.

-XXXX-

**Aria's POV (ctd.)**

After our walk and talk we made our way back to the restaurant as Spencer had parked her car there before dinner. We all got in the car and after turning on the car Spencer began driving toward Hanna's house to drop her and Lewis home.

When she pulled up outside, we all got out of the car, since this would be the last time we would get to see Lewis before he left and we wanted to say our goodbyes. Hanna hugged Spencer tightly when she had gotten around to the other side of the car, and she then hugged me a goodbye as well.

Lewis approached Spencer and smiled like he always did, she hugged him and he leaned down slightly. I heard him whispering something in her ear before pulling back and looking at her sternly.

"I know I do. And I won't, I promise." She said and he nodded in acknowledgement.

I wondered what he had said before I watched him walk over to me and he hugged me even tighter than normal, lifting me up slightly. He pulled back and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling something out quickly and slipping it in the pocket at the side of my own jacket.

"Remember what I said, okay?" he said.

"I will." I said smiling as a tear rolled down my cheek.

"Goodnight you guys." Hanna said hugging us again quickly before her and Lewis made their way inside while Spencer and I got back in her car and drove back to my house.

She pulled up a short while later and we both got out, making our way inside where my mom was sitting in the living room watching TV.

"Hey mom is it okay if Spencer stays for a little while?" I asked.

"Of course, good evening Spencer, how are you sweetheart?"

"I'm great thank you."

"Would you girls like some hot chocolate? I was just about to make some."

"I'd love some." I said happily.

"That would be great, thanks." Spencer smiled.

"Perfect, why don't you two sit down I'll have them done in a few minutes." My mom disappeared into the kitchen and Spencer and I sat down on the couch, where I slowly took out an envelope from my pocket.

"What's that?" Spencer asked.

"Lewis gave it to me before we left…" I said slowly, examining what he had put in my pocket a short while ago.

"Well, are you going to open it?" She asked as I sat there just staring at it.

"What? Oh! Yeah." After spacing out I focused on the envelope and slid a finger underneath the sealed part and slid it upwards, effectively freeing the contents of the envelope. I pulled out a thick bundle from the inside and opened it slowly.

A piece of paper which topped the large bundle was hand written, presumably by Lewis.

"What does it say?"

I opened it fully and began reading what was written on the sheet of paper aloud:

'_Aria,_

_If you're reading this it means I've spoken with you and you understand that your passion is everything, and no matter where you are as long as you love what you're doing everything will work out for you._

_After we met, I knew there was something special about you, and that if I let your talent slip through my fingers I would regret it. So, since the last time I saw you, I've been working my butt off to get things at the gallery moving, and I'm really glad that I did, because it means what you are about to find out will change everything._

_I could put it into words for you here but I think it would be a lot more fun for you to just read it for yourself._

_Please read the content of each piece of information carefully, and when you have, contact me. You have my number._

_And most importantly, remember everything I told you. You are the only thing standing in your way._

_Best,_

_Lewis.'_

I felt my heart rate increase as I moved on to the next piece of paper in the bundle, and began reading that aloud as well:

'_Dear Ms Montgomery,_

_After much deliberation by the members and contributors board of arts and under the special consideration and recommendation of Mr. Lewis Duncan, we are delighted to inform you that a full scholarship to the University of Arts London has been funded specifically for you to attend and study the course of your choice at this establishment…'_

"They want me to go to school there?" I said, my voice cracking.

"Oh my god…." Spencer whispered. I just looked at her wide eyed.

"That's why Lewis was telling me all those things earlier, because he knew I needed to hear it before he could give me this… He got me a place in UAL…" I whispered to myself.

"Keep reading, what else does it say?" She asked impatiently and after I had snapped out of my trance, I took a deep breath and continued:

'_We would also like to invite you to take part in our summer internship which is 10 weeks in duration and will take place from June 17__th __to August 23__rd__. This internship involves fieldtrips, research workshops and close tutoring within small groups as well as partially managing and organising events that take place in our gallery under the supervision of tutors and our director._

_Please read the enclosed booklets and pamphlets which include the details of the courses and further information on the internship._

_As this is offer is being made in very special circumstances, it is of utmost importance that you confirm your acceptance with the university as soon as possible for us to make arrangements for you.'_

I dropped the letter from my hand and time seemed to slow down as it fell to the floor. I jumped up from my place on the couch beside Spencer.

"Oh my god, I can't believe this!" I yelled, grinning wildly.

"What is going on in here?" my mom asked confused as she came running through the door.

"Mom, I got into the University of Arts in London!" I yelled happily.

"What? That place you went in London? But how? When?" She asked, trying to calm me down.

"Lewis! He's the art director and he got me a place!"

"Oh honey that is such great news! This is wonderful! You know after everything that has happened with Yale, I was so angry because you're such a wonderful and talented person and you deserved to get a place and when you didn't I couldn't understand why, but now this has happened, and I'm so happy for you!"

"Are you sure? It's far away from home and I'll be by myself…" I said, the realisation that I would have to leave now hitting me.

"Of course I'm sure sweetheart, you have to go where life takes you, and right now it's London." She said smiling, with a look of pride on her face.

"I'm going to London…" I said, my moment of doubt passing before the excitement quickly returned.

"You're going to London." Spencer whispered, I turned quickly to look at her, she was now standing, her eyes glistening and her lip trembling. The tears were visible in her eyes and they were threatening to spill over.

"Spencer…" I tried, but it was no use. I stood there yelling about leaving and going off to London and I hadn't even acknowledged her in any of it.

"I have to go…" she whispered but her voice still cracked and she quickly ran outside.

"Spencer, wait! Please!" I yelled after her as I ran through my front door but it was too late, she was gone.

I want to study art. I want to go to London. I want to follow my dreams. But how can I do it without Spencer?


End file.
